Review of American History X (1998) by Diego T — 29 Mar 2014

American History X, the film that everyone apparently thinks is one of the most important films of all time, falls into yet another slot on the ever-growing list of movies that I disagree with seemingly everyone on. No, this is not an intrinsically good film. I don't believe that a movie should be awarded points simply because it tackles tough subjects, and I don't think that the subject itself should have any serious weight in the overall opinion of it. If you're a religious person and you watch The Passion of the Christ, you can't say it's a good movie purely based on the fact that it's about something you believe in. The key to good filmmaking is the way the directors, actors, and writers go about portraying the subjects at hand; regardless of who or what the subjects are. And although race relations in America are tense at best, and deserve close examination, that alone does not constitute a good movie.

American History X is the story of a neo-nazi (Edward Norton) who, after a brief 3-year stint in a prison, becomes reformed and tries to turn his little brother on another path than his own. Okay, already I see problems here. Norton's character went to jail because he killed two black guys in the street. Yes, they were bashing up his truck. However, do we really believe that a known white supremacist could wound a guy, curb-stomp him to death, and then get only three years in jail? I mean, maybe in Florida, but not LA. I'm getting sidetracked. The point is, there are key elements of the plot that make no sense, especially what causes Norton to change (spoilers ahead). After seeing the drastic before and after comparisons between pre-jail and post-jail Norton, the audience is waiting for the one defining and incredible event that turned this hateful person around and onto the path of redemption.

Yeah, long story short, that never happens. Norton's story in jail is extremely disappointing. Firstly, he starts to fall out of favor with his fellow white supremacists when they do drug deals with the Mexicans in the prison. Okay... so he got mad at the white guys for doing business with the brown guys, so now he'll side with the brown guys? No, that doesn't make sense. Then the white supremacists rape him in the showers. So that one experience forever altered his world view and made him a kinder, more accepting, gentler human being? Ridiculous! And the last contributing factor is the fact that he makes friends with a black guy on the inside, leading to the black guys not killing him. Wow, there's so much wrong with this premise. I didn't believe for a second that this hateful, ignorant, and self-righteous piece of shit could go through such an incredible transformation in the span of three years. Spare me that "people change" bullshit-- the fact of the matter is that this could never have happened, EVER.

The one consistent high point is Norton, who is extremely convincing during the flashbacks to his hateful, bigoted past. There's a dinner table scene that is especially well-scripted and acted, where Norton bares a swastika on his chest to a Jewish dinner guest. Eep. Just gonna go out on a limb and say that those are bad table manners. In all seriousness though, it's difficult to play a character that is this reprehensible (Michael Fassbender knows it), but Norton pulls it off. The problem here is that we are then expected to feel sympathy for this character. Well, forgive me if I'm not so quick to forget the fact that this guy was a white supremacist three years ago. Then there's the dialogue between him and his little brother, which is so bad it sounds like it was ad-libbed right on the spot. It's repetitive, corny, forced, and wholly uninteresting. These are great characters, but they seriously deserved a better movie.

Final Score for American History X: 4/10 stars. I really wanted to like this film, but unfortunately it ultimately collapses under the weight of the subjects it's covering without actually providing any real substance. The story is questionable at best, the dialogue is laughable for the most part, and the acting, although good, isn't strong enough to hold up the entire movie. Adding to that is the Requiem For A Dream-style way that this film tells us something we already know: Here, instead of "drugs are bad," it's "racism is bad." It tries to have a new take on the subject by trying to make its main character sympathetic... but if the best you can do is try to make me become emotionally attached to a nazi, then I'll gladly take genericness instead.