Choice Movie: American History X

[CaptainF]

Wow. What a powerful movie. For just about the whole duration I was in an adrenaline rush. The whole story just enthralled me, as did the excellent, career making performance of Edward Norton. For a first time movie making endeavor by director Tony Kaye, this REALLY hits hard. Emphasis on hard.

 

[CivCynic]

PLOT SUMMARY (for those not in the know): Edward Norton portrays Derek Vinyard, an ex-violent neo-nazi skinhead in Southern California. He was sentenced to 3(?) years in prison for manslaughter when he brutally kills two black thugs for attempting to jack his car. Now he is out of prison, but unfortunately his brother is starting to follow white supremacy as well. Derek decides to steer his brother away from hatred, but will he succeed?

Right off the box.

 

[CaptainF]

Right off the box.

Actually I made it up, no joke.

Haha, wow.

 

[amadeus]

Someone want to give me the point of the movie?

 

[CaptainF]

Someone want to give me the point of the movie?

Quote from movie: "Life is too short to be pissed off all the time."

 

[sysyphus]

Good film overall, but I thought it was just a bit cliche in a few spots. Norton was excellent, but I thought others were considerably lacking.

Of course, the message was great.

 

[blackheart]

Put the spoiler tag in for those who don't want the plot..

 

[Riesstiu IV]

I’ve only seen the first 5 minutes of the movie. A friend who actually saw the whole film told be there was a brutal curb stomping scene. I’m pretty tolerant of violence in movies but that sounded so horrible. I don’t think I could actually watch it without cringing or covering my eyes.

 

[CaptainF]

Put the spoiler tag in for those who don't want the plot..

I didn't spoil the movie, I just reiterated what all the marketers said about it.

 

[Fetus4188]

The curb stomp isn't actually shown, just the lead up to it.

 

[Tenochtitlan]

Someone want to give me the point of the movie?

Basically it's saying that racism and belief that your race is superior to others is irrational.

The movie is worth watching.

 

[warpus]

Edward Norton is one of my favourite actors - any movie with him in it is at least worth watching.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Of the movies they made us see in school, this was one of the few I enjoyed.

 

[Hundegesicht]

Saw it about a year ago, really enjoyed it. What I thought was really powerful about the movie wasn't the fact it was about racism (there are plenty of movies about that), but the way it dealt with it, and the fact that it does it in an entirely realistic manner.

The movie doesn't condemn racists, with the plot focusing on innocent people who are victims of the evil racists. Instead, every single character in the movie (except for the teacher) is a racist, and every single character is a victim of the same shared hatred. And the solution isn't about killing/humiliating the evil, oppressive racists. Instead, the solution is about letting go of the hatred and anger and hopelessness that drives the characters to do horrible things.

Ultimately it's a very politically uncorrect movie, because it shows racists as being human beings, and because it doesn't blame a group of people for the problems in our society, but blames humanity and society itself for it's problems. That being said, screw PC, it's an amazing movie.

 

[Narz]

I liked the movie.

Edward Norton is always excellent, even in bad movies like 24 hours or whatever the cluck that was. It (A.H.X) could have come off very cliched if the acting wasn't as good as it was.

 

[ummmm........]

Hasn't Tony Kaye pretty much disassociated himself from the final cut of this one?

 

[De Lorimier]

I saw this movie on my birthday in 1999. I was working the crappiest job of my life cleaning-up marking lots of malls at night and I pulled a sixteen hours shift from midnight to four at the afternoon. When I tought my day was over three friends of mine pulled at my parents house and drove my ass to a little cabin in the Laurentides region to have a little celebration. We ate mushrooms before playing board games and throwing the aki ball around for hours. Different times. Anyway, then my friend who worked at a video store pulled a copy of this unreleased Ed Norton out of her bag. So I first saw American History X stone and tired out of my skull after being up for about twenty-five hours. I was amazed, we all were. It took me a few years to pick up another copy and watch it again. Being older, wiser and sober, I could really appreciate the movie and its message.

Sysyphus is right, the movie was a bit cliché in some parts, but I think it's what made that movie good to begin with. Clichés are not only repeated situations in movies, but in real life too, so using them in the movie got the point across a lot better. A simple story about hate, told very well. And the ending is different with most Hollywood movies, that's a plus.

 

[Narz]

Sounds like a fun night De. What board games did you play?

 

[De Lorimier]

If I remeber correctly, it was Scategories, Trivial Pursuit and something involving the primitive drawings we were able to produce. We still have similar nights when we play great games like Blokus and Bang!.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

That IS an extraordinary movie.
(American History X)