A proof that any piece of crap, that pretends to have and ideological content, can have a shot at Oscars

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 1999)

"American History X" aspires to tackle important social issues, but ends up making mind-boggling points "Violence is bad" and "Racism is bad" (think of it being said by Mr. Mackey the school counsellor). It's makers' strategy: let's show acts of some race-based violence, put 'bad' tags on the ones who commit it, 'good' tags on the ones who oppose them, and then make a couple of baddies join goodies, because, clearly, it's so much better to be good. The main characters (two brothers and their mother) make sudden ideological u-turns, not because it can be explained by their personalities or by the circumstances, but because it's convenient for the plot. Without revealing too much of it, the Edward Norton character, a young neo-nazi leader, sees the error of his ways after encountering one decent black kid in the pen. He jokes around with him, finds out he likes basketball - and that's all it takes! How wonderful! And get a load of this - Norton plays the most believable character of this mess of a story. His brother (Edward Furlong) undergoes the similar change upon merely hearing his brother's story. We're not even told what happens to the mother - she just suddenly becomes a completely different person. Finally, the ending is absolutely moronic (i can't go in greater detail without revealing it, but it's very very stupid). "American History X" is a very shallow and poorly-made movie. Norton is a good actor, but he's nowhere near Oscars here.