90s Movie Review - American History X

Director: Tony Kaye
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 119 minutes
Year: 1998
Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D’Angelo, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Avery Brooks, Stacy Keach, Elliot Gould

Description: Former neo-nazi skinhead Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) tries to prevent his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong) from going down the same wrong path that he did.

Review: After skinhead Derek Vinyard kills two black burglars, he goes to prison, with pride. The so called ideals of the ‘third reich’ can’t save him there, so Derek chooses a different path and doesn’t want to have anything to do with it anymore. His younger brother Danny though worships Derek and is about to follow the wrong path.
“American History X” is a powerful film, with some shocking violent scenes. That one scene, involving a curb, makes me cringe every time.  It’s a drama with a clearly present moral.
The story alternates between the past and present. The part that’s set in the present day, is shot in full color. The scenes where we learn about Derek’s early life and his time in jail, was shot in black and white. By using these two different styles, it keeps your attention at all times.
The acting is excellent and especially Edward Norton shines. This is his best performance to date and he shows how varied he can be. We see him as the relentless and proud neo-nazi, that doesn’t even blink to kill a man and has a strong opinion about people that aren’t white. But also the change he goes through, where he finally realizes what he did. He is no longer proud of his actions and wants to walk away from that life. Norton was nominated for an Academy Award and in my opinion he should have gone home with the statue.
“American History X” is one of my favorite films and gets to me every time. A great film with an extraordinary performance by Edward Norton.

Rating: 5/ 5