The Underbelly of America

Rating: 5/10 (11 December 1999)

I was immediately struck by the power of this film, the violent images, the great performance by Edward Norton that just oozes hate. But as the rhetoric of anger and racism built up in the film, I became so uncomfortable I could not continue to watch it. So, this is not a true movie review. I did fast forward to scenes I could handle and the very gruesome ending.
This is a very effective portrait of the skin head gang world. The process of how a person can change is also pretty well done considering that 3 years of prison time is compressed to a few scenes. Norton's acting is terrific in showing that transition. Also, the confusion and suffering of the Norton character's family is powerful. Avery Brooks' role is briefly allowed to be a sincere but pretty ineffective counter balance to all of the hate. With the exception of him and another African American in prison, all the African Americans in the film are grim and threatening.
And this brings up a huge contradiction in the movie. The African American high school students shown are out of control and no one is really trying to stop them. But, the fact that there are a lot of African Americans in prison is clearly supported in the movie. Meaning, cops do pay attention to them and arrest them. American History X can't have it both ways. To reflect that reality there should have been a lot more police involvement with the young African American gang members.
In a way American History X is an example of what it is trying to criticize. It stereotypes most young African Americans as mindless thugs, giving no solution to the gang problem partly justifying the hate that it supposedly is against.