American History X

How many times have we seen or heard of a point of view that seemed absolutely ridiculous and immediately taken a stance against it. And at all points of time, there is a simple piece of learning that we had all through school – there are always 2 sides to the story. Simple but yet too difficult to digest.

Especially when you are faced with the prospect of going head on against a neo-Nazi, shaven head, hot blooded young man who believes that ethnic races have all but invaded the US of A and are responsible for ALL the problems that the country is facing today. All of this is fuelled by the fact that he lost his father – a fire fighter – at age eighteen leaving him with the responsibility of handling a slightly warped family.

Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) picks up the cause for the white man at a very early age. He is extremely influenced by Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach) who is a smart operator who doesn’t have age on his side but surely has the strength of experience and capability to manipulate young white blood.

After his father is killed, Derek joins the movement with a vengeance and ensures that all ethnic communities are put through as much suffering as possible. So ransacking a supermarket that has been taken over by a Korean is just part of a day’s work for Derek. He is the uncrowned king in a manner of speaking.

All going reasonably well till a few African American goons decide to steal from him. Derek kills them and in the bargain gets 3 years in prison. Along the way, his brother Danny (Edward Furlong) also joins the white supremacists. But when Derek gets out of jail, he seems to be a completely changed man and no one is able to figure out why.

I speak a lot about intensity in my blogs and Tony Kaye gets that aspect bang on. He has used Edward Norton to the hilt. I have always believed that Ed Norton is a superb actor. Especially in roles that are dark or grey. There is a sinister tinge in him that makes your blood crawl in a weird way (Primal Fear). And he has given the character of Danny the harsh intensity that makes you hate him from the first shot itself.

It is not for some random reason that American History X is one of the top 500 movies on imdb. I only wonder why Tony Kaye never got around to making a better movie. Some brilliant work in AHX. Aspects like using black and white over colour in flashbacks just gives the movie just that additional seriousness it needs. All of it with a clear message at the end of it all. Not too many movies can claim that. 8 on 10. Must Watch it you haven’t.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV0VEstvjMM

15 Minutes

Director (The Death and Life of Bobby Z)
Cast
Year 2001
Genre Action

15 Minutes deals with a topic that has probably been spoken about over the past decade to death. In my limited knowledge, 15 Minutes could have been the first movie to deal with the topic. What is the extent to which the media can go to generate stories? What is acceptable and what is not? In the race for the highest TRP is it acceptable to take someone’s life?

Detective Eddie Flemming (Robert De Niro) is one of New York’s finest cops. Well at least he is the most popular if not the best there is. Why is that? He ensures that crime scenes are well covered by the news channels. So, the media gets there as quickly as he does. How cool is that? For the media that is. In return, he gets repeatedly featured in the important news segment and a show that is run by the famous Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer).

As Eddie is going about his day to day attention grabbing activities, 2 Eastern Europeans have made their way into New York City to settle some old scores. A Russian by the name of Emil Slovak (Karel Roden) and a Czech guy called Oleg Razgul (Oleg Taktarov). They are bank robbers and have come to NYC to track down an old partner in crime. A bank robbery from back home which left Emil and Oleg serving hard time.

Oleg is also a movie buff and doesn’t take time to steal a camera from a store. And when they find out that there is no money left (how surprising), Emil decides to cut open his old friend and wife. And as if that was not enough, they torch the place down. But Daphne (Vera Farmiga) sees this from the apartment across. Of course Emil and Oleg cannot take any prisoners.

The amazing part about the story as it unfolds is the manner in which Oleg and Emil actually take advantage of the rot that has set in the system to sell the footage of the killings and some more that they get done along the way to Robert Hawkins’ channel for a mere $1 million. Awesome isn’t it? Harsh truth I guess.

15 Minutes is one of the better movies on the topic. It is of course helped with some strong performances led by the man who played The Raging Bull and ably supported by Edward Burns & Kelsey Grammer. Karel Roden makes your blood crawl & cringe. Oleg Taktarov is more amusing than fearsome – exactly like his character should be. There is also a fleeting glance of the amazingly talented Charlize Theron.

In all, 15 Minutes is a decent watch. The performances prop up the movie to a level that it would not have been able to reach otherwise. But there is something missing in John Herzfeld’s direction that I am unable to place a finger on. Therefore, I will go with a 6 on 10. Watchable on DVD.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCa4c8D5THc