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