American History X — Review. A neo-nazi gets sent to prison for…
By: Shannon Donovan
Tags: America, Review, Film, Racism, American History

A neo-nazi gets sent to prison for murder and comes out a changed man. But can he prevent his younger brother from following in his footsteps?

In the first scene, we are introduced to the established setting, Venice beach. This clearly creates a paradox with the ending here. When re-watching for the second time the audience would be questioning whether there has been a resolution to the moral of the story which I will get into later.

In the first scene where we are introduced to the main characters Danny and Derek, there is an emphasis on it being a past memory due to the fact that it is in black and white. However you could also highlight this idea of the contrast of cultural significance and blacks vs whites. Instantly we are introduced to conflict which puts emphasis on the main message of the story — how violence is the first resort in this film when it comes to racial tensions.

The use of choir music I also find to be very contradictory here to the actions presented in the scene as the religious element is brought into play here and we associate that with peace.

We can follow this onto the later scene where we see Derek take his actions further by ordering the man to place his teeth on the curb. This is a very tense moment and the slow-motions and close ups make it even more impactful for the audience. Derek’s smile and other abnormal facial expressions at this point emphasise Derek’s irrational and animalistic nature. The eye contact between Danny and Derek throughout this scene differs as the shock of the events that just took place cause an almost numb, emotionless reaction from Danny.

When referring back to previous moments at the dining table with his family and his mum’s new partner, we see an element as to why his actions occur in the future. The family dynamic is very staggered and unconventional but follows familiar routes of a lack of a father figure. Derek feels entitled here to be the alpha male of the house and so commands an authoritative approach in his nature towards his mum’s partner.

His points on how he feels shows his intelligence yet he is still unwilling to consider being open to other people’s views and perspectives. He follows the extremist stereotype completely.

We see this first sign of Derek’s blind rage, even towards his own family. The mother has no control over the situation here so you naturally empathise with her. The audience may be able to empathise here as we are made aware of the struggles of a single parent trying to raise her children as well as she can.

Further into the film, we see Derek’s time in prison and there are two moments which I find to be very crucial to his point of realizations in his actions he has reflected and his attitude towards people of another race to him.

His interaction with Lamont I find to be very significant. You see a friendship begin to form between them which contradicts what Derek typically stands by.

Especially when Lamont explains his reason for being in the prison is what strikes me as a moment for Derek to progress and develop within his character.

“I came out of the store, he grabbed my arm, it fell on his foot. Assault. Six years.”

At this point, we can say that Derek is starting to realise that other races have their own injustices in the world as well.

Alongside this, we have the scene when Dr Sweeney visits Derek in prison. At this point, Derek is breaking down emotionally which also reflects that he feels completely comfortable in Sweeney’s presence.

What strikes me as an audience member and as an important moment in the film is when Sweeney says to Derek:

“Has anything you’ve done made your life better?”

In a way it is for Derek to understand but it is also for the audience’s benefit as we then can start to reflect on ourselves and our own lives in a way.

What helps us as an audience understand Derek’s predicament better is his upbringing, particularly evident in the scene with his dad at the dinner table.

It is automatically instilled in him to agree with his father based on the way his dad approaches the subject of black people and “blacktion”.

He references it as “nigger bullshit” which is completely derogatory but he makes it something of a comical stance which Derek naturally obides with.

In most families you tend to look up to your parents and this is all symbolic of the fact that your upbringing and what you are taught to believe has an effect on your future attitude towards life as an adult. It also emphasizes that race is taught rather than embedded meaning your opinion can change. It is not instilled from birth.

This is what we begin to see slowly happen to Derek and the end scene adds to this hugely. When Danny is shot, the moment is very impactful due to the slow motions used again like at the beginning of the film.

There are two ways in which you can interpret the ending ultimately.

Derek’s grief and torment that he will now face due to his brother’s death makes him realise that he has allowed himself to believe something to be right when in reality it is morally wrong and his forfeit is losing his brother in the midst of it all. This could be his turn around to letting go of his previous lifestyle.

However the scene with Danny reciting his paper along with shots of the beach could also emphasise this same cycle of death caused by racial inequalities and that it will never be resolved. It is leaving the audience questioning whether Derek will use the rage instilled from his brother’s death to continue inflicting pain through discrimination on black people.