Asking the Right Questions

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2008)

A genuinely moving and inspirational experience, American History X ranks one of the best films I've ever seen. Edward Norton gives one of the great performances of all time as Derek Vinyard, a former skinhead trying to make amends and save his brother Danny (Edward Furlong) from the same path. The narrative is non-linear, alternating between the present and flashbacks to various points in the past. The flashbacks are presented in black and white, representing both the static and unchanging nature of the past and the simplistic former world-view of Derek.
Norton is not only great in his performance, but frightening as well. He is articulate, intelligent and sometimes for a moment, he almost seems to make sense. Unlike, say, Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York, his character cannot be dismissed as a relic of history; there are people like this around today. His rhetoric embodies everything that is both dangerous and alluring about the Right, whether in the form of the Nazis of the past or the Neo-Conservatives of the present. It feeds upon the vulnerability of the ignorant, upon fear and disillusionment and the need to feel victimized. From what he says, you would think that white Americans were at the mercy of some kind of hegemony of minorities, rather than the other way around (listen to the drunk college students in 'Borat' for a disturbing real-life example of this). We are "losing our right to pursue our destiny," Derek preaches before leading his gang to commit acts of terrorism and thievery. Where anyone who is not a WASP fits into this "destiny" is not made clear, but the words are hypnotic like Danny's Iron Cross swinging in front of his computer screen. These people hide behind false patriotism, using it as a tool for justifying the ugliest acts imaginable. The presence of the American flag is pervasive throughout the film (early on we see Danny picking his teeth with a miniature American flag, a brilliant metaphor for the above).
Eventually, Derek kills two blacks (perhaps the most sickening sound effect in movie history was that guy's teeth on the curb; if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about) and is sent to prison for three years. There, he meets and eventually befriends a black man who is there longer for a much lesser crime and he starts to see through his own rhetoric. He is changed both by his realization of the complex nature of the world and of the flaws in his manner of going about things. His former teacher (Avery Brooks) advises him, "You have to ask the right questions," and asks "Has anything you've done made your life better?" Salvation will come not through rhetoric and being vindictive, but only through working to change things for the better because as Danny later says, "Life's too short to be (expletive)ed off all the time."
After Derek gets out of prison, he severs his ties with the old "chicken-hawk" Cameron Alexander, who had previously been his mentor and who was now courting his brother. Danny is outraged when Derek snubs his former followers and after catching up to him, noisily beats him against a metal garage-like door while Derek calmly repeats to him, "Take it easy." That is perhaps the main message that we take away from American History X (and one also brought into focus in Paul Haggis' Crash). People are too quick to anger and too slow to accept responsibility for themselves. In this film, as in life, the easiest answers are seldom the right ones, everything is more complicated than it seems, and there are unfortunate consequences to actions that not even the best of intentions can allay. But 'Taking it easy' is an important step in the right direction.
To conclude, this is another (perhaps unfortunately) timeless piece of film-making. The US is heading into what will likely be the ugliest election in its history. That "Southern Strategy" of race-baiting will be used, perhaps more subtly than in the past, but powerfully and more than ever. It seems that John McCain's only chance will be the rallying of men like (pre-redemption) Derek Vinyard. In any case, the soul of a nation is on the line, and we're all going to be rising up or going down with them to some degree, whether we like to admit it or not. Though those outside of the US may feel powerless in this struggle, we can at least share in a great work of art like this movie, and receive some illumination as to the nature of the issues at play.