Fairuza Balk Movie:

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		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay to Edward Norton is that his Oscar-nominated performance in American History X nearly convinces you that there is a shred of logic in the tenets of white supremacy. If that statement doesn't horrify you, it should; Norton is so fully immersed in his role as a neo-Nazi skinhead that his character's eloquent defense of racism is disturbingly persuasive--at least on the surface. Looking lean and mean with a swastika tattoo and a mind full of hate, Derek Vinyard (Norton) has inherited racism from his father, and that learning has been intensified through his service to Cameron (Stacy Keach), a grown-up thug playing tyrant and teacher to a growing band of disenfranchised teens from Venice Beach, California, all hungry for an ideology that fuels their brooding alienation.

The film's basic message--that hate is learned and can be unlearned--is expressed through Derek's kid brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), whose sibling hero-worship increases after Derek is imprisoned (or, in Danny's mind, martyred) for the killing of two black men. Lacking Derek's gift of rebel rhetoric, Danny is easily swayed into the violent, hateful lifestyle that Derek disowns during his thoughtful time in prison. Once released, Derek struggles to save his brother from a violent fate, and American History X partially suffers from a mix of intense emotions, awkward sentiment, and predictably inevitable plotting. And yet British director Tony Kaye (who would later protest against Norton's creative intervention during post-production) manages to juggle these qualities--and a compelling clash of visual styles--to considerable effect. No matter how strained their collaboration may have been, both Kaye and Norton can be proud to have created a film that addresses the issue of racism with dramatically forceful impact. --Jeff Shannon

American History X [Region 2] Reviews:
This movie is heavy propaganda, but does have a good message contained within
2009-12-20 - This movie is pure propaganda to get white people to dislike their race even more and to embrace the ills of multiculturalism. Here in California we are the eighth largest economy in the world and we have been embracing multicultaralism for a long, long time. I personally know for a fact that any good things about it, are heavily outweighed by the bad things. It is fun to get to know other cultures, and one grows and learns a lot about themselves in the process, but it comes at a terrible price. Multiculturalism is a looting of culture and tradition. It is also the means to lower a people from prosperous, down into the ranks of the nothingness pool of poverty and enslavement. Think that I'm just bigoted and don't know what I'm talking about? I would've said the same thing to me a few years back, as I was also heavily indoctrinated by the media, believing that to roll out the red carpet to all peoples from all lands was an enlightened, peaceful position to be at. Nothing could be further from the truth. Realize that you are not to blame if other countries have become rotten from the inside out. Drop your guilt trip.

American History X is a good movie, I highly doubt there is anyone disputing that. Back in the mid-90s when I was attending the College of San Mateo, we watched it in my 3rd World Cinema class (a controversial class taught by a very opinionated black panther, and where my self-hatred really took hold). It's a great movie to watch if you want to have a debate about racial issues afterwords. But the scales are tipped in favor of non-white races in the movie. If you can't immediately see that then just pay attention to the opinions in your debate, almost everyone will be defending every race but the white race after the movie. It has always been one of my favorite movies, but now that I am learning to actually like my own people again, I see it for what it is, yet another brilliant propaganda piece made by Holly Wood, which is in fact an elitist magical world wanded by people who are not of my race, and who are famous for hating my race. Disinformation is a lie sandwich, it will have good truth on the outer layers but a bad lie sandwiched in the middle. This movie is no different.........

The good message: You cannot judge a whole race badly based on the actions of a few bad eggs within it. Every tree has it's good apples and it's rotten apples. One must learn to judge people on an individual basis.

The bad message: If you're a white man, then you should kiss black people's butts because they are more fun and let's face it, you owe it to them. If you don't, then your white brothers and sisters are going to rape and kill you, because that is the real nature of the savage and ignorant white goyim family. Blacks, Mexicans, and Jewish people are just innocent victims of the system, but they want revenge against you for all the atrocities that the system has committed against them, hopefully by your catering to them left and right you can eventually make ammends.

"Ha ha whitey, now the whole world is blaming you for our actions."

classic
2009-12-03 - What makes American History X work so well is Ed Norton's acting.

His charator, ex-neo Nazi Derek, had been in jail: he had actually brutally murdered a black man, but was not caught for this crime. While in prison, his life is actually saved by another black man, who he befriends.

Derek comes out of prison reformed and is trying to save his younger brother, who is following the same path that led Derek to jail.

We know Derek did horribly brutal things in the name of white power before going to jail. But he is shown in American History X as a whole person; intellgent, and working to find the right way to put his terrible past behind him.

Watching, I found myslef caring for Derek dispite the despicable person he was, because Norton has created an intigrated, vulnerable person in the charactor. Beverly D'Angelo also does outstanding work as Dereks sick mother--a far cry from her work in the Vacation films.

It's been done
2009-11-23 - There is nothing new here just the usual Hollywood hype. Grossly exaggerating the threat of neo-Nazi's while ignoring California's minority gangs. More people are killed by gangs in one day than in the last 10 years from the nazi's. If you watch/buy this, just don't think. It aims soley at the emotional.

American History X
2009-10-11 - So i dont really see the point in doing this. I wanted the movie, I bought the movie, it came in the mail, and now I own it. It was pretty simple and basic. I reccommend the movie to anyone who has not seen it.

Disturbing Yet Very Powerful
2009-08-14 - Edward Norton is a fabulous actor, yet his portrayal as an angry, hate-filled skinhead in AMERICAN HISTORY X may be his best, most powerful performance. Norton so immerses himself in the role of a young man feeling disenfranchised from his culture and society that his racist rants take on a surreal logic all their own; one of the primary reasons this is such a disturbing film.

The interracial interaction and tension is as volatile as it is believable, making the first half of the film extremely uncomfortable to watch. Stacy Keach playing a cold, cunning, calculating mentor to the skinhead gang is extremely effective, and Edward Furlong is compelling as Norton's impressionable younger brother. The brothers come from a highly dysfunctional family, matriarched by a frightened, unstable mother (Beverly D'Angelo). Once Norton's character is sent to prison for gunning down two African Americans, AMERICAN HISTORY X takes a decided turn, as the protagonist experiences a reawakening--and a very ironic friendship.

Upon his release our main character has a much different outlook on life, yet cannot turn his younger brother away from years of indoctrinated hate, and the film moves relentlessly toward its hopelessly tragic (and horrific) conclusion. One does indeed reap what one sows--a powerful lesson to take from AMERICAN HISTORY X, a compelling, engrossing, yet disturbing film.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning