The power of education

Rating: 8/10 (24 September 2018)

"American History X" tells the story of a young man who sees himself as a neo-nazi and is one of the key players of the local scene. When he is sent into jail, slowly his beliefs begin to be questioned as he meets the people he used to hate so much and gets to know them better. Back in freedom, his younger brother wants to take the same path of right-wing gang membership and to change his mind won't be easy.
In many ways this is a tremendous movie. It shows the power of education, that what we pass on to our children can influence their whole lives and even political beliefs. On the other hand it depicts how getting to know people instead of just talking about them can change your mind on how to interact with them. Futhermore, it is also a portrayal of a dysfunctional family, that struggles with death and disease. Unlike other reviewers, I sometimes would have wished for the moral of the film to be a bit more subtle. It is important to stand up loud against xenophobia, but it makes the film a bit easy to attack. Also, unfortunately, not all right-wing followers are just young and confused kids, we need to take them seriously in order to stop them.
All in all this is an outstanding film concerned with a very important issue. Not my personal favorite in terms of the filmmaking side but that's just a question of taste since it is carried out more than professionally.