American history X
Year of release : 1998
Run time : 1h59m
Genre : Drama
Cast : Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D’Angelo, Fairuza Balk
The movie was written by David McKenna, and is based on his childhood and the experience he had growing up in San Diego!
The movie opens with a gang with guns, who stops by Derek’s house, smashing into his car. His younger brother, Danny, hears the commotion, and enters his bedroom, telling him what’s going on.
Derek walks outside only in his underwear, and starts sho0ting at the men, k1lling 2.
3 years later, Danny (who is now 17 years old) is called to the principle’s office, due to his history teacher (who dated his mother 3 years prior, and knows what the two brothers are capable of), who reported him for writing a paper on Mein Kampf, in which Danny says H1tler is a civil rights hero!
The principle believes that the rac1st nonsense Danny learnt can be unlearnt, and he’s not willing to give up on him ,as he is an outreach worker. The principle decides to become Danny’s history teacher, calling the class American History X, having to meet once a day. He asks him to write a new paper by the next morning, about his brother, about how he ended up being a Na$i, where did that take him (to k1lling people and jail), and the impact on Danny’s life and his family.
The same day he witnesses a white kid being beaten in the bathroom by a group of African American teens. They stop when they see Danny coming out of the stall. This is important because of what happens at the end of the movie, but I don’t understand why, as Danny didn’t do anything to these teens, they were the ones picking on others, so I wish I knew what their story was.
From the meeting the principle has with the authorities in the next scene, we find out his brother, Derek, who just got out of jail, that very morning, was the protégé of a neo-na$i, Cameron Alexander, who’s group became bigger ever since Derek joined his cause, especially since Derek got incarcerated, as Derek is seen as a god now .
Derek seems to have become a rac1st after his father was k1lled, but his brother thinks it started way earlier, when his father put certain ideas in his head.
Danny looks up to Derek, and sees him as his hero, but when he finally comes home, Derek doesn’t seem to care about their old ways, and soon admits he doesn’t want anything to do with the gang he was once part of.
When Danny tries to fight him, disappointed he wants to leave this life of hatred behind, Derek tells him what happened to him in jail, how he was friends with an African American man, who probably protected him inside, and how their own na$i gang r@ped him to teach him a lesson for not agreeing with them dealing with the African American and Latino gangs, buying and selling dr@gs.
Unlike Russia 88, the movie didn’t bore me, although it’s still an uncomfortable watch. The whole time I was wondering how does one become like this, and how the mother must have felt, like she failed as a parent, wondering what did she do for him to become like this, ‘cause I would have thrown him out of the house (thing she does the night he ends up k1lling people). Ironically, after, the mother does say these things!
The movie opens in black and white and turns to color, the present being in color, the past in black and white.
The actors were good. Edward Norton (who has a beautiful body in this movie, minus the ugly tattoos) was the best.
The soundtrack was good.
Ironically, the director of the movie, Tony Kaye, wanted to make a shorter movie, of only 95 minutes, the 119 minute version we have being due to Edward Norton who played an important role in the editing.
The movie received critical acclaim (with 84% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 62 score out of 100 on Metacritic), Edward Norton being awarded the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, and being nominated for an Oscar and a Saturn Award for Best Actor.
The movie grossed 23.8 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 20 million.
Joaquin Phoenix was offered the role of Derek, but he turned it down. Apparently Edward Norton didn’t want to play the role either, until Francis Ford Coppola convinced him to do it.
Dennis Hopper was approached to direct the movie in 1996!
Viewer discretion is advised, as the movie contains nudity (male full frontal ) and violence, from verbal violence to s3xual in nature.
Rating : Worth a watch !