An unsettling in-depth look at the struggle between reason and frustration

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2005)

Racial issues are not black and white- but enough with the cheap shots. What I think separates this movie from others of its kind is(apart from its awesome style and the performance of the cast) its tone towards racism. Instead of portraying the skinheads as idiots or demons, people that are beyond reason and understanding, it shows why anyone would become a skinhead. The answer is: for roughly the same reasons one would join a gang. Namely, affirming your dignity and identity by hating everybody else. When people start to hate entire races, they aren't thinking about a causal relation between criminal tendencies and skin pigmentation. Or about the metaphysically controversial notion that entire groups may somehow be responsible for the actions of individual members. They're not asking themselves whether "groups" as such actually even exist. In short, they aren't thinking logically: they're using perverted inductive logic to project their frustrations onto people they don't identify with. They treat these people as scapegoats. A coping strategy, as frightening as it is obscure. A phenomenon that seems to recur throughout human history, each time adapting itself to the spirit of the times. In this movie, Edward Norton en Edward Furlong both convincingly play bright but frustrated skinheads. They allow the viewer to understand the horrifying appeal that the racist rhetoric might have. And I found myself provoked to re-evaluate my own opinion on the matter. Affirmative action, racial profiling: what am I to make of these things? What would I do if I would encounter racial violence? Violence in general? How do we stop it? For once, this question, as well as the movie, is an honest one. I don't even know if it's possible. But it's going to take guts. that's for sure. So did this movie.