American History X

American History X

The movie American History X is designed to show a better understanding of the serious racism-taking place in America today. The graphic and somewhat upsetting film shows anger and dislike between a “ghetto” black community and a white neo-nazi gang. One of the main ideas in this movie is to show how someone whose whole life has been centered around racism and later he realizes that all races should be treated with equal respect. Derek who is the main character of the movie has a lot of harsh situations and influential people who are going to start his change in life.

In his review David Keyes states, “American History X is not just an average movie. It’s a brutal and disturbing plot that discusses and demonstrates racism, prejudice, and human blindness. That you simply expect to see a movie simply discussing the average skinhead life, but what you get is something totally beyond what you’d expect to see at the cinema.” I agree with David Keyes. This movie really shows a neo-nazi’s life and the journey of struggle he had to endure. The movie opens with thieves trying to steal Derek’s car from him. Because of Derek’s racist character, he brutally beats and kills one of the robbers because he was black. When Derek is arrested he meets an African-American who he becomes friends with. Lorenzo, Derek’s friend that he meets in jail, teaches Derek a lot of things about life and how he shouldn’t have such racist views of people. The obstacles that Derek has to overcome make him a better person in life.

Derek was put into situations where he had to show his devotion to the Arian brotherhood. Like when a gang of black guys tried to rob a car from his house and kill his family. Derek, a racist, kills two of the three-gang members, one of them very brutally. He gets sent to jail for 3 years. While Derek was in prison he automatically joined a group of fellow Nazi’s in jail. He didn’t believe that they were devoted to the Nazi community because sometimes they would consult with other races outside the Arian brotherhood. He started to speak his mind to the fellow prisoners that he is a true Nazi and the rest of them are just scared. “How