AMERICAN HISTORY X  (1998)  **

American History X almost works despite itself. The direction, full of intense, slow-motion shots, is incredibly indulgent without a whiff of subtlety. The music always telling you what to feel is overbearing and annoying. The dialogue is a sheer polemic, generously allotted its share of groaners. Yet the movie is powerful, and the source of this power is Edward Norton, who gives a searing performance. He is continually hindered by the writing and direction, but he still pulls through. Norton plays Derek, a neo-Nazi skinhead, who is getting out of jail when the movie starts. He was imprisoned for the brutal murder of two black men trying to rob his car. Three years later, he's out and completely reformed in his ways, but now he has to deal with his younger brother (Edward Furlong) who's been following in his footsteps. If this sounds maudlin, oh, it is. But still, Norton's bravura performance makes you care even if everything else in the movie is ridiculous.

Well, I shouldn't say that. This film marks the first performance by Edward Furlong that I've liked. And Jennifer Lien, who plays their sister, is superb in a small role as a (gasp) Democrat in the family. Everyone else, Beverly D'Angelo as the mother, Elliott Gould as her one-time Jewish boyfriend, Fairuza Balk as Derek's girlfriend, and especially Avery Brooks as the all-compassionate teacher are one-dimensional. This is more the fault of the writing than the actors, who all try hard.

The film tries to tackle so much and therefore simplifies the issues of racism to a ludicrous degree. After all, how can you show both the complete evolution of a neo-Nazi and his complete reformation satisfyingly in 2 hours? The neo-Nazis in the film are of course all disaffected youth, complete losers really. And they all came to be that way through the wiles of one man.

For me, the movie hinged on Derek's reformation. The movie is about enlightenment, if not redemption (especially given its twist ending, which at least isn't predictable), and Derek's enlightenment comes through his prison life. This mid-section of the film is intriguing, but to pull it off, it had to be great. It wasn't. That is mostly because Derek's relationship with his fellow inmates, except one, is kept strangely amorphous. You don't get much idea of what his prison is like. Suffice to say the one true friend he makes there is the source of his enlightenment. Like I said, it's pretty maudlin.

Writer-director Tony Kaye has disowned the movie in a fight with New Line over final cut, but judging by the quality of the material that made it to the screen, Kaye's cut probably wouldn't have been much better. Yet for all the film's negatives, American History X is still a very compelling film. I was never bored and was ready for the film to go on for another half hour when it ended somewhat abruptly. It is beautifully shot, especially in the black and white (really sepia-toned) flashbacks. If you should see it for nothing else, you should see it for Norton's amazing performance.