Great Movie!

Rating: 10/10 (8 February 2012)

The film, American History X, written by David McKenna, is about a young man who goes from being a skinhead, Neo-Nazi supremacist to attempting to save his brother from following down the same path of destruction. After the death of his father by a black drug-dealer, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) finds himself proactive in a Neo-Nazi gang led by Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach) and right next to him is his girlfriend Stacey (Fairuza Balk). One evening Derek's younger brother Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong) alerts Derek that some black guys were trying to break into his vehicle. Derek darts outside shooting a gun, killing one of them and forcing another to "bite the curb" where he kills him as well. As Danny looks on, his brother is arrested, charged, and sentenced to three years in prison. Derek learns in prison that he was wrong in believing and acting the way he did when he leaves the safety of the gang in prison he joined and befriended a black man Lamont (Guy Torry). Danny is following in his brother's footsteps by: joining the same gang, writing papers such as Mein Kampf, and openly being a skinhead, Neo-Nazi supremacist. Dr. Bob Sweeney (Avery Brooks) from Danny's school visits Derek in prison to inform him that Danny is following in his footsteps. When Derek gets out of prison, he tries everything he can to reach out to Danny to make his see what he did was wrong and it's not something to be proud of. Once he gets through to Danny and they both vow to stay away from that kind of evil, Danny gets killed in the bathroom by a black man he had an argument with earlier in the film. The theme of this film is the ability to change oneself. Throughout the film there are flashbacks from Danny's point of view as well as Derek's when he is in prison. The story shows how events that happen in a person's life can ultimately change how they view themselves enough to change who they are when they realize that reflection they are looking at every day is not the person they want to be. With the theme in mind another film that I feel shows how people can change and view life in a different was is "The Shawshank Redemption" where two men who are in prison for different crimes learn that friendship and kindness can make life so much more worthwhile. The lighting, color, and angles used throughout the film helped to captivate the audience. When there were flashbacks the use of black and white was amazing to show the overall difference between past and present. The angle used when Derek was being arrested was to make sure the audience not only saw the outcome, but ultimately see the expression on Derek's face when he was looking at Danny and smiling. That was the last memory Danny had of him outside of prison. When addressing the theme on changing oneself, sometimes it takes a person to step back and look at how things were when there was happiness and innocence. One scene was where Derek is looking in the mirror and thinks about when he and Danny were very young. To that point he realizes how much pain he has caused many people around him, and what needs to be done in hopes to fix what he continued from the hatred his father taught him.