the real treasure of hatred

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2001)

I gave this movie a solid 8 and it came real close to sliding into a 9 spot. The violence and language is not for the tender. The brutality of the body and spirit is necessary for the story line. The movie would lose its gut impact without it. Gut impact is a good word for the feeling this movie renders.
This film is not center staging violence nor does it take the easy road with quick glimpses of passionate sex. The star is an emotion. It has survived since the beginning of time. Sometimes it appears to be the only thing that lasts. This emotion is hatred. We watch as a family unravels before our eyes because of hatred then tries to mend itself by changing course.
The movie does a real good job of showing both sides of the tracks. It covers some real tough social and economic problems that are too often and incorrectly tagged to a certain group. Derek, the skinhead, does have some real true issues and is a hurting being, like many other humans in this world. He is a section of society that feels left out and left behind and becomes angry about it. He makes some good points and some obnoxious points. He falls into a pit that all bigots descend into by concluding that society's problems would be eliminated with certain groups being exterminated and or severely controlled. The story is not totally one sided as many times it's simply survival of the strong. It's kind of like living on the grasslands of Africa where there are predators and prey. In this case blacks and whites prey on each other as well as being a cannibalistic beast so to speak. Sometimes they are living in fear and are just trying to survive. When you deal with hatred one can't dance with the devil without getting a little stain on one's dress. In the case of Derek's family the stain runs deep. We all may be quick to judge one of these groups, but we never know what our reactions would be unless we have been in their shoes and had to survive.
Edward Norton plays Derek perfectly. I have never seen an actor look like a mean and nasty neo-nazi skinhead one-minute and then a pencil pushing office room geek the next. The change was due to Derek's epiphany he had in prison and the help of a good-natured high school teacher. While in prison, Derek learned what brutality is and that skin color or a matching tattoo does not guarantee loyalty and sincerity. He found that skin color is only a difference and should not be a guidance system to hate. He realizes the bigger picture and then discovers guilt. He learns life is too short. He must carry his guilt that only becomes a bigger burden once freedom rings.
This movie is a very good movie and portrays hatred as purely evil and rightly so. In this movie it's not all whitey or blackie's fault. I applaud the movie for that. Sometimes a movie similar to this makes blacks look all bad or that all whites hate everyone different from themselves. In this movie both groups are brutalized and each ones actions, while being a horrible injustice, may be more understandable if we lived in their world. There would have been a few things I would have done differently in this movie as a director, but not much. My score of 8 is a score that I do not give out very often. I would not recommend this movie to everyone and especially young kids who are easily impressionable. I know many feel this movie reveals only the evil side but a person, that relates to one of these groups, might concentrate or only feel the raw power in the violence and find it mesmerizing. Not a movie for everyone!