American History X is an Academy Award-nominated 1998 film directed by Tony Kaye. The lead actor, Edward Norton, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. The film received an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.[1] It grossed $6,719,864 from 513 theaters in the United States, and a total of $23,875,127 worldwide.[2]
The film tells the story of two brothers, Derek Vinyard (Norton) and Daniel "Danny" Vinyard (Edward Furlong) of Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California. Both are extremely bright and charismatic students, and Derek is drawn into the neo-Nazi movement after their father, a firefighter, is murdered by a black drug dealer while trying to put out a fire in a South Central neighborhood. Derek kills two black gang members trying to steal his truck, and is sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter. The story shows how Danny is influenced by his older brother's actions and ideology and how Derek, now radically changed by his experience in confinement, tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path as he did.
Plot
In the opening scene, Danny Vinyard, a young white supremacist, sits outside the principal's office, where his history teacher explains to the principal, Dr. Sweeney, that Danny wrote a book report sympathetic to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. After some discussion, Dr Sweeney calls Danny into his office and informs him that he will now be his history teacher, calling the class "American History X", and that his first assignment is to write a paper about his brother Derek.
The next scenes are flashbacks showing Derek's transformation into a vengeful white supremacist in Venice Beach having already been influenced by his firefighter father's latent racism, and is driven to action when his father is murdered by an African-American drug dealer.
Eventually Derek becomes second-in-command of a neo-Nazi gang, The DOC, and entices young whites to join by promising protection from predominantly non-white gangs. The gang commits acts of intimidation, such as damaging a store owned by a Korean and challenging basketball games against groups of black players. One night while Derek is with his girlfriend Stacey (Fairuza Balk) three blacks try to steal Derek's truck, which upon discovering Derek exits the house and violently confronts the men as Danny watches in horror.
Derek is sentenced to prison after being convicted with voluntary manslaughter where he joins the Aryan Brotherhood. He becomes disillusioned with the gang, especially over the group's friendly dealings with a Mexican gang. When he voices these opinions, he is quickly shut down by the other white supremacists, so Derek chooses to not associate with them any more and is beaten. It is while working in the prison laundry room that Derek gradually becomes friends with a black inmate named Lamont.
While in prison, Derek is visited by Dr. Sweeney, whom he asks for help to get out on parole. Sweeney informs him of Danny's aspirations of becoming a neo-Nazi like Derek and heading to right where he is. He confides in Derek that he used to hate white people as a youth, but he came to the realization that racism was pointless. Sweeney asserts that Derek has spent his life pursuing answers, and then asks him: "Has anything you've done made your life better?" This proves a turning point for Derek, who further distances himself from the Aryan Brotherhood and changes his outlook on life. Lamont emerges as his only true friend in prison.
When Derek returns home he finds that Danny has become a white power skinhead and then tries and fails to convince him to leave the gang. Derek then tells the leader, Cameron Alexander, that he will no longer associate with him or the gang at which Cameron provokes Derek who beats him before leaving his office. During an ensuing confrontation, Derek's friend Seth Ryan points a gun at him, which Derek wrestles from him, and points it at the angry crowd before running away from the party. Danny angrily confronts Derek who tells him about his experiences in prison. The confession seems to prompt a change in Danny and they walk home with the insinuation that they will start to change their ways.
The following morning Danny concludees his story and Derek gets ready for a meeting with his parole officer. Derek walks Danny to school before his meeting, and on their way they stop at a café where they are met by Dr. Sweeney and a police officer. They tell Derek that Cameron, the leader of the white supremacists, and another member were found after being jumped, and that they are now in the hospital. Derek claims no knowledge of the incidents but they ask him for help, which Derek reluctantly agrees to do.
At school, Danny enters a bathroom before class starts and is confronted by a young black boy who is a gang member, with whom he had a confrontation the previous day. The black student ends up shooting Danny three times in the chest. The film ends with Danny narrating part of his paper, in which he quotes the conclusion of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
Development
Kaye, the director, disowned the final cut of the film. He tried and failed to have his name taken off the credit list.[3]
Cast
Deleted scenes
These are featured on the DVD.
- A scene in which an elderly black woman is harassed and made to cry on the boardwalk by teenage white power skinheads.
- A scene after the "party", in which Cameron and Seth go to a cafe and discuss Derek's change. They harass an interracial couple, and then leave. A car is waiting outside, in which several black men that are unrelated to the couple, watch Cameron and Seth leave, before going after them. One black man inside the car (the same black guy from the school) remarks "Somebody fixin' to get they ass whooped." The aftermath is not shown, but the audience later learns that Cameron and Seth were attacked.
- A brief scene in the cafe near the end in which Derek winks at a little black girl and asks "How do I look?"
References
External links
