Review of American History X

Introduction

A searing, if muddled study of the lengths people go to justify their hatred. Edward Norton is the ruthlessly charismatic Derek Vineyard, a former neo-Nazi skinhead, reformed after some hard time and now ashamed and tortured by his former self. He can mentally justify the person he was and the person he is now, but he is unable to free his family, especially his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong) from the abhorrent legacy he has created.

Video

The transfer, visually and sonically, is impressive, the black and white images in particular have quite startling effect on DVD: the convenience store attack is perhaps even more shocking now than it was in cinemas.

Features

The extras are intriguing but listless: a few deleted scenes which don’t add a great deal but are interesting in themselves, a trailer and some biogs. At least they put in some effort.

Conclusion

Norton’s mesmerising, red-blooded portrayal is that rare, brave performance that dares to stare evil between the eyes and give it a human face, evil as a natural human affliction, a reasonable if immoral expression of one’s inner self-doubt and torment. We see and feel every inch of Norton’s blistering, conflicted self, and he gives the film its edge, helped along by a skilled performance from Furlong and strong supporting roles from Stacy Keach, Avery Brooks and Elliot Gould.

However, with the untimely departure of first time director Tony Kaye, the film often feels jumbled, confused, simplistic or at times completely out of sync (no doubt an unfortunate symptom of the frenetic post-production re-editing that followed Kaye’s fallout with New Line). The movie is largely rhythm-less, scenes ram together like dodgem cars, the effect is jarring and disconnected, allowing the undeniable power of the piece to distil and relinquish. There are also some irritatingly elementary plot contrivances, that simplify the fervent complexity of the story: a cheap shock ending and a woefully written dinner table discussion with Norton’s fireman pa to explain the ‘roots’ of his bigotry are the most glaring. However, despite these flaws, ‘American History X‘ is still a bold and intense piece of cinema, Kaye’s photography, both in colour and black and white, is particularly beautiful (although at times, heavy handedness lulls into near-laughable self indulgence, check out the basketball game in particular). But this is Norton’s movie: raging, angry and disturbingly human, Norton gives neo-Nazism the humanity that is so implicit within any hate organisation. ‘American History X’ is one of the first US films to explore why people turn to this banal antipathy as a sociological and emotional solution.