American History X

8 Pages 2034 Words

American history X is the title of my movie. American History X focuses on the life of a skinhead. The main character of this movie is Edward Norton. Edward Norton gives an impassioned performance as Derek Vinyard, a Southern Californian skinhead who must do time after committing a hateful murder. Once in jail, his mind opens and he sees the error of his ways. Upon reentering the real world, he must now turn his attentions to his younger brother Danny, who is swiftly heading down the same path as his brother. The movie's main storytelling device centers on Danny's latent writing ability. After turning in a glowing review of Hitler's "Mein Kampf", when asked to discuss a book about civil rights, Danny's now being forced by a concerned, hard-love school teacher to write an account of Derek's journey from the "heights" of murderous skinhead leadership to the depths of brutal rape in a prison shower. In the film there are unnerving scenes of racial violence: of black youths kicking a helpless white student in a high school restroom; of a Korean-owned grocery store terrorized by skinhead thugs; of an African American whose skull is split open by a skinhead who orders him to lie face down on a curb. Unlike many Hollywood films, it shows this young man's evolution. He sees all the destruction that hate causes, not only to society at large, but also to his own family. Therein lies the lesson: Everyone suffers from hate crimes. Derek repents after his stay in jail due to the friendship of a black inmate and the assault by his racist brethren. But Danny is still a rabid believer, spewing sadly misinformed bile while hanging with White-power speed metal freaks and the like. At times it is difficult to tell what message this movie is trying to put across. We know that in general, being a racist is wrong. But, while watching this movie, I, and I'm sure many others, was understanding and agreeing with a lot of the points made. There are of course man...