Processes or equalization?

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 1999)

Although I think that American History X was one of the best films in year 1998 I had to observe several points. The most important was that I could not feel -because of the flashbacks- the deepness of the film's message as the storyline was broken. This made also impossible to illustrate the process of Derek's arriving to the final point. This part was rather told superficially and in the end we only got a spoon-fed but still neutral conclusion. (The father's conservatism could led to the children's tendency - but quite interesting that the daughter, Davina does not becomes affected..) In spite of this - unfortunately determinated - problem of flash-backing the film represented the most natural and most beautiful flash-backing technique I've ever seen. Splendid idea the way as the final point - killing the black man on the pavement - wasn't presented for the first time (Introduction), this brutal and in a way symbolic action could be saved for the deeper part of the film, making it really catarctic without becoming disturbingly effectual-seeking. The other advantage of the technique that Derek could be presented two ways at the same time to avoid presenting him neither as a rat nor as a hero, always equalizing the bad and the good points of his attitude.
Even not spoken of the importance of the main problem - Neonazism - of the film, I can advise it to everyone.