American History X (1998)

Genre

Director

Country

Cast
Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Elliott Gould, Avery Brooks, Stacey Keach, William Russ, Guy Torry, Joe Cortese, Antonio David Lyons, David Basulto

Plot
Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), a skinhead belonging to a sect financed by Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach), is released from prison after serving three years for voluntary manslaughter of two black guys. The same day, his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong), submits to his history teacher Murray (Elliott Gould) - which is Jewish - a paper on Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, believing to follow his brother Derek's belief; what Danny is still not aware of is that in prison Derek totally changed his mind, due to sexual violence coming by a component of his neo-Nazi group, and also because the only people that were close to him were both black: a young inmate, Lamont (Guy Torry), and his old school teacher, Sweeney (Avery Brooks).
Sweeney, which is also the principal of Danny's school, will give to the young boy a new assignment: he has to prepare a paper on his brother called "American History X".

Opinion
Marvelous film, perhaps my favorite. American History X is moving and definitely remains in the viewer's memory. Despite what tons of people think, this film is not about racism or anti-semitism, but about hate. The film ends with the last words of Danny's essay and lets hope. 
Well directed by a debutante Tony Kaye,  this film is embellished by the incredible performance of Edward Norton, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. 


Quotes
Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it.

Rating
9.5/10

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