American History X (1998)
Country: US
Technical: bw/col 119m
Director: Tony Kaye
Cast: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Stacy Keach, Elliott Gould, Avery Brooks
Synopsis:
An L.A. fireman's son becomes a white supremacist demagogue and a great influence on his sensitive younger brother. However, after a spell in prison he emerges a changed man, determined to leave his past behind.
Review:
Powerful if aestheticized racial drama, dealing with the post-Rodney King world of Venice Beach and neo-Nazi gang manipulation, in which the battle lines are drawn far more than in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. A basketball game early on has something of that film's rivalry for control of turf teetering on aggression. Norton is superb in an early leading role, and Brooks impresses, too, as the school principal who keeps his faith in the boys alive, but it is Kaye's film, and he delivers the film's unflinching violence and gentler moments with assurance.
Country: US
Technical: bw/col 119m
Director: Tony Kaye
Cast: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Stacy Keach, Elliott Gould, Avery Brooks
Synopsis:
An L.A. fireman's son becomes a white supremacist demagogue and a great influence on his sensitive younger brother. However, after a spell in prison he emerges a changed man, determined to leave his past behind.
Review:
Powerful if aestheticized racial drama, dealing with the post-Rodney King world of Venice Beach and neo-Nazi gang manipulation, in which the battle lines are drawn far more than in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. A basketball game early on has something of that film's rivalry for control of turf teetering on aggression. Norton is superb in an early leading role, and Brooks impresses, too, as the school principal who keeps his faith in the boys alive, but it is Kaye's film, and he delivers the film's unflinching violence and gentler moments with assurance.
Country: US
Technical: bw/col 119m
Director: Tony Kaye
Cast: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Stacy Keach, Elliott Gould, Avery Brooks
Synopsis:
An L.A. fireman's son becomes a white supremacist demagogue and a great influence on his sensitive younger brother. However, after a spell in prison he emerges a changed man, determined to leave his past behind.
Review:
Powerful if aestheticized racial drama, dealing with the post-Rodney King world of Venice Beach and neo-Nazi gang manipulation, in which the battle lines are drawn far more than in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. A basketball game early on has something of that film's rivalry for control of turf teetering on aggression. Norton is superb in an early leading role, and Brooks impresses, too, as the school principal who keeps his faith in the boys alive, but it is Kaye's film, and he delivers the film's unflinching violence and gentler moments with assurance.