Rent American History X on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: David McKenna
Directed by: Tony Kaye
Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Avery Brooks, Elliot Gould, Stacy Keach
Rated: R
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Plot
Former neo-Nazi Derek struggles to prevent his brother Danny from following in his footsteps.
Verdict
This story has such an impact. It's a hopeful story in that maybe people, even the most hateful, can change. Though Derek is reformed, there's a cost and a baggage he'll have to carry around forever. He's caused so much harm, but maybe he can prevent others from following his example. He eventually realized he was just a pawn in other people's games, using the ideology for their own causes. His personal experiences disproved his rhetoric. The movie also examines the root of Derek's rage. The cause was his father's death, but the seed was planted long before that. There's a danger present, passed from father to son and son to brother. You think you're heroes can't be wrong. Derek finds out the hard way how strong his beliefs were. He realizes he's harmed so many people, and he can only try to begin to make it right.
Watch It.
Review
The movie tackles difficult topics of violence and the origin of hate. We look at this through Derek Vinyard (Ed Norton) who went to jail because of hate. It's through experience he learns his rage was misplaced, and the movie goes deeper than that. Now out of jail, he wants to prevent his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong) from ending up in the same place. How did Derek develop his racist beliefs? Where did he learn to hate?
Derek learned to hate through his father. He was told it enough and believed it. That wrecked Derek's life, but it's his fault. Not everyone is able to learn from an experience like that. For some it just reinforces the hate. For Derek, he wanted to reform not just for himself but for Danny. The only people that did anything for Derek while he was in prison were the people he hated. That's when he realized he was wrong. It's a hopeful story, presenting a belief that a person can change, can learn from their mistakes, and turn away from hate and violence when it's all they know. Not many people can summon the courage to admit how stupid they were and abandon ego. Hope always remains eternal.
Just as Derek admired his dad, Danny idolizes Derek, following in his footsteps. In that is an influence and power. We see what got Derek incarcerated, and now Danny is in trouble at school for writing about Mein Kampf. Derek knows where that leads as he was the protege of Cameron (Stacy Keach), an older white supremacist that preys on kids to do the illegal work and spread violence without incriminating himself. Through Cameron, Derek was encouraged and praised. He created a street gang that trafficked in the same violence he bemoaned. He recruited people that wanted somewhere to belong. It wasn't about the beliefs, it was about someone that welcomed you. Derek knows what that life cost him. He doesn't want Danny following that.
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| Edward Furlong, Edward Norton play Danny, Derek Vinyard |
Danny can't understand why Derek has changed. Danny's recollections of Derek are someone that always won arguments, raged against minorities, and talked down anyone that challenged him. To Danny I'm sure that looks like winning, but anytime Derek was challenged it resulted in aggression or even violence. He didn't want a discussion. This rage is rooted in losing his father, wanting to blame something. He had been told his whole life who to blame. That hate culminates in murder, more than murder. It's a heinous crime. Derek was so full of rage, he needed a place to put it and channeled it into harming others, trying to make them feel the suffering he did.
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| Edward Norton plays Derek Vinyard |
The arguments from the Derek of before are from Cameron, misdirections and half truths. It's easy to use that to recruit people that are looking for any sense of belonging. No one can believe the legend Derek Vinyard wants out. The people that can't believe also haven't faced any consequences. Like Derek saw in prison, the ideology is just a convenient end to influence others. In prison the politics were about survival. They didn't believe in the cause like Derek. That's the crack in his belief system. That and Derek working laundry with a black man. He discovers that he isn't the enemy, just a person. All of this stuff Derek believed and preached, in prison none of that matters. The only people kind to him during prison were the people he was so bent on persecuting, further undermining his previous beliefs.
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| Edward Furlong, Edward Norton play Danny, Derek Vinyard |
After Derek relays his prison experience to Danny, they remove all the hateful posters in their bedroom. I don't know if one story would be enough to change Danny's mind, it took Derek much longer, but it's a symbolic and great scene in context that represents a fresh start for both of them. As Danny astutely point out, Derek would say it started with the death of their father, but it started much earlier with their dad planting those seeds and misleading him with an outsized influence a father often has.
The ending is a tragedy, violence perpetuates. Derek must feel some responsibility as the originator of so much violence and hate in the community. He's trying to turn his life about, but there will always be reminders. He can never fully escape his past, always carrying that baggage and regret.
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