3
3
(a lot of strong language, violence, nudity, & rape)
(the hate-filled racists are "Christians.")
5
(see it once)
I can’t not recommend "American History X," but I must raise some flags at the same time. On the positive side there is a strong message of tearing down racism and hatred, but at the same time it’s overly extreme.
Derek has grown up amongst a culture of white supremacist views culminating in the racially-motivated killing of a black man. While serving out his prison sentence Derek realizes his folly and changes his ways. Upon his release he comes back to a younger brother as full of hatred as he once was, and Derek makes it his mission to straighten Danny out. What happened in prison to so completely change Derek's views? The history unfolds alongside the desperate attempts he makes to keep his brother Danny from following that same road to prison and doom.
Something in the world that bugs and worries me is the attitude that racism and discrimination can only be white folks against black folks. Hear me now and believe me later, racial bigotry comes in all skin tones, and I've seen despicable acts of discrimination from black and white alike. So one thing I really like about this movie is that it looks at racism from all angles. Its focus is the life of a white supremacist, but it points out that racism goes both ways not letting anyone off the hook.
As far as the drama goes it’s intense and gripping. Ed Norton is a talented actor, and he delivers a performance worthy of praise - quite possibly his best ever aside from "Fight Club." The acting in general is quite good from the likes of Edward Furlong, Guy Torry, and Stacy Keach which is important because this could have very easily become cheesily melodramatic. Perhaps avoiding that is why the director went so extreme with the shocking elements, which I'll detail shortly, but I don't think such was needed. Perhaps the people that enjoy those elements are the very ones he wanted to reach, but the message could have gotten to more people with a more family-friendly delivery even if it retained some of the grittiness seen here.
There are some artistic elements in the directing that I really like. The color goes to black and white for the flashback scenes allowing not only a clear difference between past and present, but also symbolism of skin colors. I like the non-linear timeline. I think it works well to learn about the past as we learn about the present rather than knowing everything that has come before.
I hope the movie makes people think about little "innocent" comments they make based on a person's skin color and breaks viewers' hearts over the senselessness of racial violence. This can be a thought-provoking movie if you're willing to dwell on the themes beyond entertainment for a Friday night.
Morality
This movie contains a good bit of violence. The worst of it is implied, but done in such a way that makes it effectively graphic in the mind which is probably actually more powerful than a gory depiction on screen.
The sex scenes are graphically acted and lengthy. A homosexual gang rape scene is brutal: bloody and disturbing. There's a small amount of female nudity in one sex scene, and a quite a bit of male nudity in the rape scene.
The strong language is very heavy all the way through.
Spirituality
There is very little mention of anything spiritual in the movie. The neo-nazi skinheads make comments about hating everyone that is not protestant, but I didn't see it as a jab against Christians saying that we are all race haters. The fact of the matter is that many of these supremacist types do hate everyone that is not exactly like them which could include Jews, Catholics and others despite the supremacists themselves not at all living a life that resembles the example of Christ. One only has to look at Fred Phelps' congregation to see an example of hate-mongering done by people calling themselves protestant Christians.
Derek's transformation almost feels religious. His repentance as far as his racial hatred goes is profound and exhibited in actions as well as words. He wants to change the world around him for the better. As Christians tapped into the full truth of God we know there is more to the redeeming of a life than repenting of a single sinful tendency, but I don't think that invalidates the importance of the message here that hatred is destructive.
Hopefully we as Christians can recognize that God made us. Some people say that he doesn't look at the color of our skin but at our hearts. As far as our understanding of judgment goes I think that's a fair statement, but I don't think it's a complete look at the character of God. To say he doesn't care about our skin color makes it sound like our diversity is an arbitrary or accidental thing. I think it's neither. I think he looks at our diversity of colors and smiles upon it.
Final Thoughts
You've got to balance the impact of the anti-racist message with the sex, violence, and extreme language used. No matter how profound the message is you may not want younger viewers exposed to the other elements. If you can overlook the nature of the questionable content this is strong, dramatic story that is worth seeing at least once.
Buying Guide
"American History X" offers meager purchasing options.
Basically you can get it on DVD or Blu. Unfortunately, the product listings can be conflicting and confusing (such as saying the release is “full screen” while the technical specs list it as being a widescreen ratio). Digging into the details of the listings, though, it appears that ultimately you only have the two options. I did see a listing for a DVD + Blu steelbook pack, but details are so sketchy I wonder if it's a legitimate release.
There are a variety of multi-packs usually including "A History of Violence" and sometimes other movies like "True Lies." Most of them are Blu-rays.
I haven't seen the Blu. Here's what I've gathered from tech listings. The video is at or around 1.78 widescreen (I've seen 2 different spec listings) at 1080p. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 ES or True HD 5.1. So essentially you'll get the high def picture and the lossless audio with quality that reportedly makes a massive improvement over what's available on DVD. It looks like you'll get at least the deleted scenes as far as extras.
Final Recommendation:
The DVD doesn't offer much bang for your buck and nothing to get fans excited. Get this only if you plan to watch the movie itself multiple times. The DVD presentation is good enough quality for me to recommend it, though it sounds like that if you can find a good deal on the Blu it would probably be worth the upgrade. If you go for one of the multi-movie packs you're not going to miss out on much even if you don't get the DVD extras.
Mine is the standard DVD release which is a single disc.
Video
1.85 widescreen:
It looks good for the most part. The black and white portions are very sharp but are not perfect. There is some smudging when the camera pans quickly. Some of the very dark scenes look snowy. The color portions show a little more grain.
Audio
5.1 Dolby:
Audio is clear with a good mix. There's not much bass rumble or surround sound immersion to it.
Packaging
Mine came packaged in one of the cheap, old cardboard cases, but those seem to have been phased out in favor of the sturdier plastic ones.
The interface is simple but functional.
Extras
-Deleted Scenes:
-Boardwalk (0:51) Kids bully a woman.
-Ben's Burgers (5:15) Conversations and a confrontation with a mixed race couple.
-How Do I Look (0:38) A light-hearted moment with a kid.
-Theatrical Trailer (2:25) A fairly standard but good trailer.
-The Cast & Crew: Bios and partial filmographies for 11 people.