Racism or redemption

Rating: 7/10 (17 June 2012)

In American History X, Derek Vineyard (played by Edward Norton) is a self proclaimed Neo-Nazi (skin head) and a leader of a gang, fostered by a preacher of hate, Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach). Alexander, who uses impressionable kids but stays behind the scenes to keep himself out of trouble, teaches hatred of anyone that is a minority and further pushes Derek into believing in white supremacy and uses Derek's skills and intelligence to help spread his word of hate. Thanks to his intelligence and skills in speaking, others follow Derek in terrorizing anyone who is not white as shown when Derek and other skinheads go into the Korean grocery store. Derek's first hint of racism came from his father, who was killed in the line of duty by a minority. This is where Derek began to have hatred for all minorities and was able to be easily influenced by the likes of Alexander. Derek has a younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong) that idolizes him and wants to emulate him, and his mother Doris (Beverly D'Angelo) and sister Davin (Jennifer Lien) who both are afraid of Derek but are also afraid of the life he has chosen and where that choice will take him. This theme of violence is not unlike the one shown by the Hmong gang that was terrorizing the community in Detroit in the film Gran Torino (Eastwood, 2008). After Derek was sentenced to prison for happily murdering two black youths that was breaking into his vehicle, things for Derek changed. While serving his sentence, he learned that there are good and bad people of every race and his view of others unlike himself have changed. Upon his release from prison, Derek must pull his younger brother from the mire of hatred that he once embraced. This feeling of hate and racism is one of the primary themes in the movie, and the easiest for the viewer to understand. Racism and hatred are both powerfully shown in this film but it ends with the enlightenment of Derek that what he has done in the past, and where his brother Danny is heading in the future, is wrong. There were many techniques used to show the power of the scenes. From using flashbacks to show what happened in the past to change Derek both negatively and positively, and the narration of the film by Danny, it all helped to tell the story the director wished the viewer to see. Plot points that supported the theme of violence and racism included the symbol of the Nazi swastika on Derek's chest. In the beginning, he wore that tattoo with pride but after maturing and becoming enlightened in prison, he wore it with shame. Camera angles were such that fear of the gang was shown by those that were terrorized by them and probably one of the most powerful was showing the violence of Derek killing the two men.
American History X shows that there are consequences to the actions one takes and that enlightenment comes at a cost. For Derek, that cost was the time he spent in prison and what happened to him there.