Even amazing Edward Norton could not make me blind for its flaws

Rating: 7/10 (30 October 2018)

I understand how this film managed to hype the masses, but it's a complete mystery to me how it withstood the test of time and even after twenty years it is considered to be one of the best films of all time. The movie undoubtedly has its qualities, but its flaws are much more numerous and painful.
On the positive side, if the idea was to criticize Neo-Nazism and racism, I support that. I also like the idea to make the movie more effective by running the whole thing from the angle of a skinhead. And the strongest trump of the film is that this skinhead was played by Edward Norton. His appearance, charisma, acting skills and the transformation of his character through the film definitely deserve an Oscar, but unfortunately, he was in competition with Benigni's performance in "Life Is Beautiful", against whom no one would stand a chance.
Furlong's performance is not for underestimation either, but besides two of them, the most of other characters are pale and uninteresting. In fact, most of the film is totally unconvincing, which may be a good thing, because if it already (accidentally) sends the wrong message, it is better that it is not powerful. I am literally allergic to racism and Neo-Nazism and I found myself rooting for Skinheads... Although I believe that the author's intention was to criticize it, the film instead romanticizes the "white power" movement. I suppose the purpose of this romanticizing is to show us how it all looks in the eyes of the kids who decide to join it, and that would be perfectly fine if the film showed the other side of the coin equally striking. But if I, in my forties, so easily fell under the influence of this romanticizing and found myself rooting for Skinheads during almost the entire film, I am afraid to even imagine the influence it could have on immature kids with crazed hormones, and that is something I can not forgive. There are many examples, but the basketball game is one of the most obvious. I'm pretty sure we all rooted for Skinheads to win the bet, and even worse, they did. And then follows zenith of believability when black guys quietly pick up their things and leave the court with lowered tails. Yea, sure, in reality it would happen exactly like that.
By far the weakest point of the film is the end. I think the idea was to aggravate the overall impression and strength of the film with earthquake tragedy, but that murder in the school toilet was so stupid and unconvincing that, instead of tears, caused my jaw to fall in disbelief. Neither there was appropriate motivation for it, nor would anyone, even wildly adolescent, brought it up in such a place and in such way. I knew that in the end one of the brothers would have to die, but I expected them to get killed out of the passing car as they walked to the school, or through the restaurant window, and I expected the gang to kill Norton as a retaliation for the black guys he had killed. That would be upsetting and make sense. But this toilet murder was simply stupid. And what's even worse, it's not even the original end of the movie. After the toilet murder, there was supposed to be a scene which would somewhat repair the damage made by this ridiculous killing. According to the script, the film ends with a scene in which Norton stands in front of a mirror shaving his head. This scene would round the story perfectly, made it more realistic, convincing and vigorously tragic, but Norton refused to do it.
Norton's performance is fantastic and so striking that it is perfectly understandable that it has blinded many eyes and distracted them from all the drawbacks of this film. If you are watching a movie focused exclusively on Norton, you will easily overlook all its shortcomings and experience it as a masterpiece, but I think that, if you watch the film again after reading this review, you will understand what I'm talking about and deprive it of some undeserved credit. Ten out of ten for Edward Norton, but about four or five for all the flaws, some of which I did not mention.
7/10