Movie review score
5
American History X (1998)
119 min - Crime | Drama - 30 October 1998 (USA)
A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.
Director:
Tony Kaye
Writer:
David McKenna
Stars:
Edward Norton, Edward Furlong and Beverly D'Angelo
119 min - Crime | Drama - 30 October 1998 (USA)
A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.
Director:
Tony Kaye
Writer:
David McKenna
Stars:
Edward Norton, Edward Furlong and Beverly D'Angelo
Plot:
Flashbacks throughout the film show Derek's transformation into a vengeful white supremacist in Venice Beach. Having already been influenced by his bigoted firefighter father's latent racism, Derek is driven to action when his father is shot and killed while fighting a fire in a suspected Compton drug den. Eventually Derek becomes second-in-command of a neo-Nazi street gang, The D.O.C., and entices young whites to join. The gang commits acts of intimidation, such as damaging a store owned by a Korean and challenging black players to basketball games to win the court as turf. These incidents go unnoticed by the family until Derek has an argument (involving Rodney King) with his mother's new boyfriend Murray (Elliot Gould) who is Jewish. Later that night while Derek is having sex with his equally-white supremacist girlfriend Stacey (Fairuza Balk), Danny informs Derek that three Crips members are attempting to steal their father's truck. Derek runs outside and shoots at two of the men with a pistol, killing the first one instantly. He shoots and wounds the second man, one of the black basketball players, and vows to "teach him a lesson" for trying to steal the truck his father gave him. He forces him to put his mouth on the curb, then brutally kills him with a curb-stomp. Danny watches in horror as this unfolds. The police arrest Derek as he smiles at a shocked Danny.
After being convicted of voluntary manslaughter, Derek is sentenced to three years at the California Institution for Men in Chino.[2] There he joins the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. After about a year, he becomes disillusioned with the gang, especially over the group's friendly dealings with a Mexican prison gang member, and their trafficking in narcotics. When he voices these opinions, he is first ignored and then reprimanded by the other white supremacists. Derek also develops a friendly rapport with black prison inmate, Lamont (Guy Torry), who works with him in the prison laundry. His fellow neo-Nazis take notice of this and savagely beat and rape him in the shower.
While still recovering from the attack, Derek is visited by his black, former English teacher Dr. Bob Sweeney (Avery Brooks), whom he asks for help to be paroled. Although Derek later became an anti-semitic neo-nazi, he had always maintained a level of respect for his black teacher. Sweeney informs him of Danny's aspiration to become a neo-Nazi like Derek. Sweeney confides in Derek that he used to hate white people as a youth, and he realized that racism is pointless. Sweeney asserts that Derek has spent his life pursuing answers, and then asks: "Has anything you've done made your life better?" This proves a turning point for Derek, who further distances himself from the Aryan Brotherhood and changes his outlook on life. Lamont emerges as Derek's only true friend in prison, and is part of the reason Derek stays alive as he uses what influence he has to persuade a contingent of black prisoners to protect Derek from his former Aryan Brotherhood associates.
The morning Derek is due to be released from prison, Danny's history teacher, Murray, reports Danny to the now principal Dr. Sweeney on account of Danny's history paper on Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography. Dr. Sweeney convinces Murray to give him another chance. He tells Danny that he will no longer attend Murray's class, and every day Dr. Sweeney will teach Danny history, a class they will call American History X. For their first lesson Dr. Sweeney asks Danny to write a new paper on the events leading up to Derek's incarceration. Danny reluctantly agrees after Sweeney threatens expulsion. In the evening when Derek returns home, he finds that Danny has become a white power skinhead and then tries and fails to convince him to leave the gang. Later that night at a neo-Nazi party which Derek and Danny are both attending (despite the fact that Derek made Danny promise he wouldn't go), Derek confronts and tells the leader, Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach), that he will no longer associate with him and the gang and tells him to "Stay away from him and Danny" at which point Cameron provokes and insults Derek who beats him up and knocks him unconscious before leaving his office. During an ensuing confrontation, Derek's neo-Nazi friend Seth Ryan (Ethan Suplee) runs after Derek and aims a pistol at him, which Derek wrestles from him, and points it at the angry crowd before running away from the party. Danny angrily confronts Derek, who tells him about his time and transformation in prison. The confession seems to prompt a change in Danny.
The following morning Danny finishes his paper, and Derek gets ready for a meeting with his parole officer. Derek walks Danny to school before his meeting, and on their way they stop at a café where they are met by Dr. Sweeney and a police officer. They tell Derek that Cameron and Seth were attacked the previous night and have been hospitalized. Derek claims no knowledge of the incidents, yet they ask him for help. Derek reluctantly agrees.
At school, after Danny uses the urinal in the bathroom, he is confronted by a young black student with whom he had a confrontation the previous day. The student shoots and kills Danny. When Derek arrives, he runs into the bathroom and tearfully cradles his dead brother in his arms. The film ends with Danny narrating part of his paper, in which he quotes the conclusion of Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
After being convicted of voluntary manslaughter, Derek is sentenced to three years at the California Institution for Men in Chino.[2] There he joins the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. After about a year, he becomes disillusioned with the gang, especially over the group's friendly dealings with a Mexican prison gang member, and their trafficking in narcotics. When he voices these opinions, he is first ignored and then reprimanded by the other white supremacists. Derek also develops a friendly rapport with black prison inmate, Lamont (Guy Torry), who works with him in the prison laundry. His fellow neo-Nazis take notice of this and savagely beat and rape him in the shower.
While still recovering from the attack, Derek is visited by his black, former English teacher Dr. Bob Sweeney (Avery Brooks), whom he asks for help to be paroled. Although Derek later became an anti-semitic neo-nazi, he had always maintained a level of respect for his black teacher. Sweeney informs him of Danny's aspiration to become a neo-Nazi like Derek. Sweeney confides in Derek that he used to hate white people as a youth, and he realized that racism is pointless. Sweeney asserts that Derek has spent his life pursuing answers, and then asks: "Has anything you've done made your life better?" This proves a turning point for Derek, who further distances himself from the Aryan Brotherhood and changes his outlook on life. Lamont emerges as Derek's only true friend in prison, and is part of the reason Derek stays alive as he uses what influence he has to persuade a contingent of black prisoners to protect Derek from his former Aryan Brotherhood associates.
The morning Derek is due to be released from prison, Danny's history teacher, Murray, reports Danny to the now principal Dr. Sweeney on account of Danny's history paper on Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography. Dr. Sweeney convinces Murray to give him another chance. He tells Danny that he will no longer attend Murray's class, and every day Dr. Sweeney will teach Danny history, a class they will call American History X. For their first lesson Dr. Sweeney asks Danny to write a new paper on the events leading up to Derek's incarceration. Danny reluctantly agrees after Sweeney threatens expulsion. In the evening when Derek returns home, he finds that Danny has become a white power skinhead and then tries and fails to convince him to leave the gang. Later that night at a neo-Nazi party which Derek and Danny are both attending (despite the fact that Derek made Danny promise he wouldn't go), Derek confronts and tells the leader, Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach), that he will no longer associate with him and the gang and tells him to "Stay away from him and Danny" at which point Cameron provokes and insults Derek who beats him up and knocks him unconscious before leaving his office. During an ensuing confrontation, Derek's neo-Nazi friend Seth Ryan (Ethan Suplee) runs after Derek and aims a pistol at him, which Derek wrestles from him, and points it at the angry crowd before running away from the party. Danny angrily confronts Derek, who tells him about his time and transformation in prison. The confession seems to prompt a change in Danny.
The following morning Danny finishes his paper, and Derek gets ready for a meeting with his parole officer. Derek walks Danny to school before his meeting, and on their way they stop at a café where they are met by Dr. Sweeney and a police officer. They tell Derek that Cameron and Seth were attacked the previous night and have been hospitalized. Derek claims no knowledge of the incidents, yet they ask him for help. Derek reluctantly agrees.
At school, after Danny uses the urinal in the bathroom, he is confronted by a young black student with whom he had a confrontation the previous day. The student shoots and kills Danny. When Derek arrives, he runs into the bathroom and tearfully cradles his dead brother in his arms. The film ends with Danny narrating part of his paper, in which he quotes the conclusion of Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
