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Thursday, 2 September 2010

The Docudrama American History X Reviewed

By Milagros Witt

By taking a look at this article, you will be able to get a good inside look at the film "American History X." There are so many different things to understand and appreciate about this film, and most of these will be covered in the upcoming paragraphs. Through a plot synopsis and reflection on the nature of the film, you should be able to understand the motion picture a little better.

You might be surprised to learn that many people seem to think that this movie was based on real events. The truth is, that this is not the case. While there might be a little bit of truth in the telling of any good work of fiction, this is not the retelling of any one series of events. Perhaps the film is thought to be based on real life because it has a no holds barred approach to laying this film out in front of you. They don't pull punches.

That is precisely what happens to the main character, Derek Vinyard. Through the scenes that get the film moving, you are introduced to Danny Vinyard who is Derek's younger brother and still in high school. He is asked to write a paper on his brother by his history teacher after a paper that he has written and submitted has landed him in some hot water with the officials of the school.

You also learn that Derek, his immediate family and his close friends all share a extremist skinhead view on the world. That world, indicates that black people are the problem that society has to put up with and for all intents and purposes should be eradicated. This began when Derek was a small boy and watched his father gunned down by a black drug dealer. He was taken under the wing of a white supremacist that encouraged him to stand up for himself. So Derek formed his own gang of white kids that would never be afraid of blacks in their community again.

You also learn why Derek is in jail, through the retelling of his brother Danny in a narrative. Three black men attempt to break into Derek's car and he is alerted and heads outside with a pistol drawn. He gets two out of the three with shots, killing one and wounding another. What follows is one of the most graphic sequences ever depicted on film, in which he forces the wounded man to place his teeth on the curb and Derek stomps on the back of his head, killing him.

Derek is forced to confront his hating ways in prison, when he realizes that he is the minority and there is no protection for him. He, through a lengthy series of circumstances, befriends a black man that he is on laundry duty with. Derek vows that he would do anything to take it all back and start over again far away from what he now represents. He learns that his younger brother is headed in the same direction, and he will not allow this to happen.

He is released and meets up with his girlfriend at a welcome home party. He asks her to move with her, but she refuses. He is also forced to face the man that taught him to be a white supremacist and tells him that this is no way to live. He and his brother leave, and Danny is able to finish the paper which you hear as the narration for the ending of the film.

The story ends with Danny being shot to death by a black kid in the bathroom at school. Powerful acting from Edward Norton (Derek Vinyard) and Edward Furlong (Danny Vinyard) bring this story to the screen and give it the perfect acting that such an impressive movie requires. American History X might be hard to watch at times, but it is a grand reflection on how people could be so confident in what they believe to be right.

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