American History X

This is one of those movies that appears high up on lists of great films, but I'd always been reluctant to watch it. I knew that a) it was about a neo-Nazi - not appealing, and b) it was really violent in parts. I can stomach a bit of celluloid violence, but movies (even those considered classics) that centre around violent, unsympathetic characters just ain't my cup of tea. Hello Goodfellas.


This is extremely violent in places, but it's deftly balanced with some truly moving, touching moments. There's no question that at times the main character Derek, played brilliantly by Edward Norton, is utterly abhorrent - yet it's so even handed that, just as you are not spared from seeing him at his worst, you feel yourself cheering for him when you see him at his best. The duality within the character exposes the confusion at the heart of the far right (neatly illustrated by the scene where partying skinheads wave the American flag in front of images of Hitler, a man who thousands of Americans lost their lives trying to stop). Furthermore, the movie shows how that confusion, combined with anger and fear, leads to violence and destruction - and how that process is not confined to any one racial group.


There are so many things to admire about the way this movie has been made, I particularly liked the light-touch storytelling. In one scene Derek rants about black-on-black violence and rioting as evidence of racial inferiority, words that resonate when he becomes the victim of particularly brutal white-on-white violence. So many aspects are interesting - the black and white filming of the flashbacks (when the main character's thinking is in exactly those terms), the believable step-by-step handling of the friendship with his prison workmate, the way someone can simultaneously be powerful and powerless. 


Ultimately this is not a film about black and white, but one about humanity and inhumanity, education and blind prejudice, moral character and moral weakness, love and hate. It's fascinating, it's moving. It shares a lot in common with Tsotsi, a redemption-story film that I love, but be warned - if you found that bleak, this makes it look like Disney.