Review of American History X

Video

I`m writing this in the middle of the night - although I may well not press "Commit" until a bit later when the effects of large quantitities of Paramol have worn off slightly - just in case it makes no sense. I`m up in the middle of the night for two reasons: 1) I have a Flu/cold thing and 2) I have a rat.
Reason number 2 is by far the most annoying - I`m sure the little sod waits for me to drop into a light sleep (eventually) before scurrying, nails out, big rat-boots on, accross the ceiling directly over my head. I`ve just had a bloke in (and yes, he did look very much like a rat himself - it really is uncanny) to put some poison down in inviting places for it, so I must admit to a certain smugness as I sit here listening as Mr. Toad`s best friend tracks me down to the office and starts line dancing practice directly above me as I type this - I`m just waiting for him to die, and he doesn`t know it... :-)
I have a mate who had a rat problem a while ago and he used to alternate feeding the thing poison with giving it all the left over chocolates that no-one likes. Happy though it seemed to be with endless coffee creams and hazelnut whirls, I think it eventually died of heart failure due to obesity, rather than as a result of any poison ingested. My mate was most distressed to find the thing dead at his feet one morning with a "finally-at-peace" expression on it`s face, leaving him still with a large bag of Granny chokers to dispose of.
Anyway - what was I doing? Oh yes - DVD Reviewer isn`t it... righto. "American History X" focuses on the life of Derek (Edward Furlong), a violent White Supremacist leader living in the Venice Beach area, and those closely associated with him, most notably his little brother Danny, who idolises his "Swastika`d up" brother and gets himself a nice haircut to match. The plot turn in the movie which converts it from a story about a nutter to a human interest / dilemma thing is brought about when Derek is convicted of manslaughter and sent to jail. Derek hates the penal system and, as a black inmate he forms an uneasy truce puts it on his arrival "You`re the n***** in here..", referring, of course, to the fact that Derek is a blatantly obvious KKK wannabe in a jail with an 85% Black population.. Life expectancy falling..
One of the movie`s big turning points comes when Derek is raped in the showers. Now, my experience of Homosexual men in prison is, thanks to a diet of "Porridge" (sic), limited strictly to those Christopher Biggins, "Whoops I`ve dropped my towel", "Camp as a row of tents" (used with permission from "Rob Isaccs Big Book of Cockney Bullshit, Vol 4"), type characters who are largely ineffectual. The guys that rape Derek, however, are truly scary people. They`re doing it simply to prove a point and it`s this which finally breaks him down. Couple this with the fact that his white community offer him no protection thereafter, yet the black population maintains an uneasy truce with him, and you can see the cogs start to turn. Derek turns his back on the supremacist movement and, on his release, sets about trying to distance himself and his family from old allegiances and in particular to repair the damage he`s inflicted on his brother.

Audio

I`m not sure if I missed it, or was experiencing temporary deafness, but I can`t remember this film having a soundtrack at all. Perhaps it was dance music, which would explain why I can`t remember it..
The dust jacket reminds me that it`s recorded in good old DD 5.1.

Features

There are some deleted scenes, trailers etc.. tucked away behind the menus, plus brief biogs of the cast and crew.

Conclusion

Very powerful stuff - I recommend watching it, but not if you`re already depressed. Maybe after winning the lottery.
The film makes some useful comments on racism in big-city america, but there`s nothing new here - it`s just well put together. I seem to remember it being based on truth, which always brings that extra element to a movie - don`t take my word on this though - I told everyone that "Toy Story" was a true account, dramatised a bit, obviously.
I`m going to bed.