Whenever I hear about a movie with political content I immediately sound the alarm. I ask myself: is this going to be one of those movies where either the political message is so overbearing that the artistic style is nearly non-existent or perhaps the opposite, becoming "political" just in name? Forgive my skepticism, but directors with a political mind have quite often understood cinema as pure propaganda, although there are some classics too. Well, American History X manages to combine them both in a pretty successful manner. The movie is full of meaningful quotes while still maintaining the viewer's attention thanks to the overwhelming feeling that somewherei, at some given time, either Danny or Derek are going to pay for their mistakes. One does not want that to happen, especially when they start reforming after Derek's stay in prison, but there is something awful in the air, some rarefied atmosphere that carries the omen with it. There is something very deep inside that tells us how their extremism cannot lead to anything good, and a simple sentence in jail is not enough. Hatred only feeds more hatred, and once we start the vicious cycle there is no way to stop it, no words that can convince our enemies to put down the gun and forget about avenging their murdered brothers and friends.

The movie starts with some placid scenes of the seashore in Venice Beach, where the sea tide smoothly comes to wash the sand in a semi-paradisiac landscape. But reality kicks in pretty soon. The next scene already shows us a car cruising down the streets of the city to a noisy rap music in the background. It is quite obvious these people in the car are up to no good. Men come to break this paradisiacal calmness with their racial hatred. They are aiming for Derek Vinyard, leader of a Neo-Nazi group that has been spreading its racist credo among the disaffected youth. Something goes wrong though and the planned victim overcomes his assailants and ends up murdering them. From that moment on, Derek's younger brother, Danny, who has been faithfully following his steps, takes over and tells us the story. Prompted by a social worker worried about Danny's future, he writes a report titled American History X where he explains what his brother did, how he did it and why. Along the way, Danny does some great genealogical work of white supremacism and its roots. The viewer has to put together all the pieces from a few flashbacks that travel to their family dinner conversations before Derek even became a white supremacist.

Derek's menacing shaved looks, tattooed swastikas and extreme violence against all minorities (even the productive immigrants who managed to set up business in the area and are living a decent life) may be easy to dismiss as lunacy, until we realize that his speech is not so different from that used by quite a few extreme radio talk show hosts. When Derek shouts to his crazed gang that...

One in every three black males is in some phase of the correctional system. Is that a coincidence or do these people have, you know, like a racial commitment to crime?

... or

We're so hung up on this notion that we have some obligation to help the struggling black man, you know. Cut him some slack until he can overcome these historical injustices. It's crap. I mean, Christ, Lincoln freed the slaves, like, what? 130 years ago. How long does it take to get your act together?

... or

Every night, thousands of these parasites stream across the border like some fuckin' pinata exploded.

... we may as well be listening to the crude words of a Rush Limbaugh, a Michael Savage or a Jason Lewis. This is, I believe, one of the morales of Derek's story. The violent Neo-Nazis who use their bats to hit to death the "scum of the Earth" are simply bringing to its final and bloody conclusion the ideas and words of those who spread racial hatred from behind the microphones and the tidy political platforms under the guise of some form of "return to our core national values". They are two sides of the same coin. We should have learnt that back in the 1920s and 1930s when Hitler's anti-Semitic actions were nothing but the logical conclusion of similar speeches coming from the "mainstream" right. The same could be said of Derek's attacks on Murray, the liberal teacher who tries to bring him to his senses right after a divisive argument at the family kitchen. In what may remind us of today's rabid assaults on those who dare to criticize the current Administration's attacks on civil liberties in the name of the war on terrorism, Derek spits this to Murray's face:

You don't think I see what you're trying to do here? You think I'm gonna sit here and smile while some fuckin' kike tries to fuck my mother? It's never gonna happen Murray, fuckin' forget it, not on my watch, not while I'm still in this family. I will fuckin' cut your Shylock nose off and stick it up your ass before I let that happen. Coming here and poison my family's dinner with your Jewish, Nigger-lovin', hippie bullshit. Fuck you! Fuck you! Yeah, walk out, asshole, fuckin' Kabala reading motherfucker. Get the fuck out of my house.

Does it sound familiar? Did I hear these accusations against the "hippie lovers" and the "Kabala reading" liberals before? Yes, we can also replace "Nigger-lovin'" with "welfare-lovin'" and get the same effect, for we know fully well that by welfare they mean "payments to the Niggers", although our haters of the politically correct will never admit to that on the radio. They just suggest it and let others do the dirty work the same way Cameron does in American History X. Cameron is the true brains of the group, the ideologue behind the thugs, the one who feeds them all the hatred, provides the resources to organize them at a national level and then walks away to witness their destruction while claiming that he is not associated with it at all.

Cameron: This is stupid. Go cool off, get laid, do something, comeback when you're ready to talk.
Derek Vinyard: Yeah, but it really doesn't matter if I do does it, 'cause you got a whole crop already lined up you fuckin' chicken hawk!
Cameron: Excuse me?
Derek Vinyard: You prey on people Cam. I lost three years of my life for your fuckin' phony cause but I'm onto you know you fuckin' snake.
Cameron: Hey watch it Derek, this isn't some fuckin' country club where you can walk in and outta here-

All in all, a very crude film with some violent scenes that may disgust some people but one that should nevertheless be used to teach tolerance to our youth. Violence, destruction and death is all that can be expected from political extremism, and not any sort of liberation.

Danny Vinyard: I'm sorry, Derek. I'm sorry that happened to you.
Derek Vinyard: I'm not. I'm lucky. I feel lucky because it's wrong, Danny. It's wrong and it was eating me up, it was going to kill me. And I kept asking myself all the time, how did I buy into this shit? It was because I was pissed off, and nothing I ever did ever took that feeling away. I killed two guys, Danny, I killed them. And it didn't make me feel any different. It just got me more lost and I'm tired of being pissed off, Danny. I'm just tired of it.

Or, as Danny puts it towards the end of the movie,

Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time.

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Entertaiment factor:6/10
Artistic factor:6/10

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