American History X: Review

American History X follows the change in attitude of a neo-nazi skinhead white supremacist who desperately wants his younger brother to follow a better path than he did, worried that without proper guidance his brother will end up in prison precisely like he did after an incident in which two black rivals got murdered. It's a pretty unique story which at times is incredibly thought-provoking, raising ideas about racism and violence. 

Ed Norton plays older Brother Derek Vinyard, and plays his role to an amazingly believable standard. Never before have I seen a film where intolerant white supremacists are the main characters, but their ideology is not idolized or favoured. The film does an amazing job of showing the gritty realism of racial prejudice, not just of whites on blacks, but of many different ethnicities against eachother. 

Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton)

American History X is laid out rather interestingly, with lengthy colourless scenes mixed in with those in chronological order. These detail exactly how the protagonists reached the point they are at, adding huge layers of depth to their current mindset. It's not a method completely unseen, but works particularly well in the movie, keeping the flow and showing a colossal contradiction in the main character of Derek from his younger self to his new outlook on life. 

The only problem with American History X is that the frankly emotional ending becomes predictable about half an hour before it happens. This isn't as much of a sin as some films, where their conclusion is apparent simply from a trailer, but it's still a shame. I don't know how else the movie could have ended though, as without spoiling anything, the way everything comes together is so appropriate it would be selfish to wish it any other way.

Verdict

American History X is a relatively uncensored view of a specific mindset still present today. It is violent, disturbing and controversial, but pulls off the goal it set out to achieve very well. Intolerance and violence simply results in more intolerance and violence, there's no other way around it. It's a touching story about a man trying to stop somebody he loves making the same mistakes he did, and a film which everybody should watch and allow themselves to think over for a while afterwards.   8/10

"It just got me more lost and I'm just tired of

being pissed off, Danny."