American History X
Racism and hatred are bad, we all know. Still, it can't be as easy as all that, because hatred and racism exist and even flourish. American History X is as good a take on the source of bigotry as you are likely to see.
Derek Vinyard is getting out of prison, where he's served three years on a manslaughter charge after killing two black gangsters who were stealing his car. He's leaving prison a changed man, changed in ways you wouldn't believe if you'd known him earlier. To bring home that change, the movie weaves the story of Derek's first day out of prison with his pre-prison life told in black-and-white flashback, with narration by Derek's admiring kid brother.
Derek is a racist skinhead with a prominant swastika tatooed to his chest. He's not your run of the mill gene pool hate monger. Instead, Derek is smart, articulate, charismatic, courageous and principled. This is American History X's subversive triumph. You are repelled by Derek (at least I hope you are) but at the same time, you see his virtues, you find him admirable in some way. He is a real man, a standup guy, born to lead, a guy you'd want on your side under ordinary circumstances.
Derek was recruited by an older white supremicist to recruit and organize a gang of skinhead toughs in Venice Beach, where the older white middle class is feeling beleaugured by Hispanics and Blacks. Derek is effective, terribly effective, and quite successful at his job. The script gives him speeches and his speeches are the usual stuff about the white race being dragged down by lazy immigrants, but there are delivered with hypnotic intensity. Derek is a compelling leader and you understand immediately why people follow him.
Then there are the killings. Derek kills the two car thieves, one of them horrifically. In a stunning scene, you realize that the man is an animal. It is one of the most fully rounded portraits of evil I've ever seen.
This takes place half way through the movie. The rest of the film is devoted to Derek explaining to his kid brother, a proto-skinhead himself, just why he wants out of the life. The prison story is another long flashback sequence that tells another gripping story through a series of harrowing scenes and graphic images. The story is so well done that at the end Derek's transformation seems not just plausible but inevitable.
Now that Derek's out of prison, he has to break free of his past (his release is eagerly awaited by his old colleagues) and save his kid brother from being drawn further in. He does what he can.
American History X is a white Boyz N the Hood. It is the same traditional story structure of kids getting in trouble and trying to get themselves out, and the same edginess. The direction and writing, by Tony Banks, brings a freshness to the material and keeps you thinking that anything is hokey or contrived. Edward Norton gives a remarkable performance as Derek, and Edward Furlong does well as the kid brother. Avery Brooks is Dr. Sweeney, the teacher who still gives a damn, and he doesn't load down the part with a lot of sincere platitudes. Even though they're on the opposite side of everything, there is still a plausible bond of respect between Sweeney and Derek. There's not a bad performance in the movie, and every gangster and skinhead gives off just the right mix of menace and contempt, while every family member is vulnerable and worn out in just the right way. A surprising Elliott Gould plays a minor role as an English teacher who just gave up on the Vinyard brothers. Amazingly well directed, American History X is a mine of striking scenes and memorable images. Besides Boyz N the Hood, it does not appear to pay homage to any other movie but relies instead on its own internal logic. That's the mark of a great,original movie, I think.
Kevin Welch kwelch@mailbag.com
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