Do you know of a movie more powerful than this?

[Catch22Dem]

Absolutely fucking chilling. Brilliantly done.

[Tesibria]

1. agree -- one of the top 10 ever .... nt

[livinginphotographs]

2. Very very very good movie.

I used to hang out with skinheads when I was younger, and that's pretty much how they were. They didn't really hate blacks, jews, etc. they were just pissed at the world and needed someone to direct their anger towards...

Being a bleeding heart, I have empathy towards everyone, even skinheads. I think there's very few that truly believe that bullshit they spout.

[rockymountaindem]

3. A similar film called "The Beliver"

It was never relased due to a, how shall we say, overly realistic depiction of anti-Semitic beliefs. It was simliar, and superior, to American History X, I think.

[jonnyblitz]

4. I saw that one. It was good.

It was about a jewish guy who became a neo-nazi skinhead. I wasn't aware it was never released. I rented it from Blockbuster awhile back.

[Catch22Dem]

5. Yeah, Blockbuster had it for a while

Never saw it.

[rockymountaindem]

17. They said in the bonus features

that they didn't release it because the ADL was afraid for several reasons. First of all, it wasn't just another movie about skinheads. They spent a lot of time actually developing and explaining why this dude went from Orthodox Jew to neo-Nazi. The character's argument was thoroughly explained. Thus the ADL feared it could be used as neo-Nazi propaganda.

There's also a scene where the skinheads trash a synagogue, including ripping up the Torah and urinating on it. The ADL was evidently very upset about that, although the director explained that they had found the two panels of Torah script that do not contain "God" (and are therefore not holy), reprinted them on paper (not used in production of real Torahs) and filled the visible parts of the scroll with that. They really went out of their way not to damage anything of holy significance. That didn't seem to sway the ADL.

Lastly, there's a big rant by the main character about the supposedly degenerative sexual practices of Jewish women, which is explained in detail. This upset the ADL screening group, which according to the director was composed of mostly elderly women.

Although I enjoyed the movie, I have to say I can see why the ADL wouldn't want too many people to see it. I doubt many in the moviegoing public would have seen the analogy to Jonah, which is what the film was really about, and would have focused on the anti-Semitic bullshit espoused by the skinheads.

[ikojo]

21. The Believer was very loosely based on the true story of

a Jew, Daniel Burros, who became a hard core racist and rose through the ranks of the American neo Nazi movement of the 1960s.

http://www.ucsbdailynexus.com/artsweek/2002/3140.html


A true story from the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement inspired the film. Daniel Burros was an influential and high-ranking member of both the Ku Klux Klan and the American Neo-Nazi Party. In 1965, an editor from the New York Times discovered that Burros was in fact Jewish, and sent a reporter to confront him about an expository story the paper intended to run. Burros was inflamed, he threatened to kill the reporter and himself if the story was printed. The article ran the following Sunday, and Burros fatally shot himself.

“Daniel Burros … was not a guy who interested me very much; I think he was kind of loathsome and unfortunate, and I really wouldn’t have known quite what to say about him,” Bean said. “Much of what I read was utterly predictable if you wanted to figure out how a nice bar mitzvah boy became an anti-Semite; it was easy to predict. But one detail that was interesting was that when Burros was a member of the American Nazi Party, and obviously hiding his Judaism from all these other Neo-Nazis, he would never the less bring knishes back to the Nazi headquarters and hang out with girls who people thought were obviously Jewish. He was hiding it, and giving it away at the same time - that was interesting. There was a duplicity there that I found very appealing.”

[Stop_the_War]

6. wtf is it? I just see some nazi idiot....

[Catch22Dem]

7. American History X

That's Edward Norton in the picture. Certainly FAAAAAR from being an idiot (in real life) this was an incredible performance by him. Look it up sometime.

[Stop_the_War]

9. how could a nazi movie be anything worth my time?

[jonnyblitz]

11. umm.....because it's anti anti-nazi movie maybe? breathe...

:eyes:

[Catch22Dem]

12. Seriously? I think you have the wrong impression.

This does NOT glorify Nazism. Edward Norton is a reformed white supremicist who is doing everything he can to keep his younger brother from following the same path that led Norton to prison. The story is also told in flashbacks that show you how Norton became the way he did. Just incredible acting and a story that will open the eyes of ANYONE who watches it.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay to Edward Norton is that his Oscar-nominated performance in American History X nearly convinces you that there is a shred of logic in the tenets of white supremacy. If that statement doesn't horrify you, it should; Norton is so fully immersed in his role as a neo-Nazi skinhead that his character's eloquent defense of racism is disturbingly persuasive--at least on the surface. Looking lean and mean with a swastika tattoo and a mind full of hate, Derek Vinyard (Norton) has inherited racism from his father, and that learning has been intensified through his service to Cameron (Stacy Keach), a grown-up thug playing tyrant and teacher to a growing band of disenfranchised teens from Venice Beach, California, all hungry for an ideology that fuels their brooding alienation.

The film's basic message--that hate is learned and can be unlearned--is expressed through Derek's kid brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), whose sibling hero-worship increases after Derek is imprisoned (or, in Danny's mind, martyred) for the killing of two black men. Lacking Derek's gift of rebel rhetoric, Danny is easily swayed into the violent, hateful lifestyle that Derek disowns during his thoughtful time in prison. Once released, Derek struggles to save his brother from a violent fate, and American History X partially suffers from a mix of intense emotions, awkward sentiment, and predictably inevitable plotting. And yet British director Tony Kaye (who would later protest against Norton's creative intervention during post-production) manages to juggle these qualities--and a compelling clash of visual styles--to considerable effect. No matter how strained their collaboration may have been, both Kaye and Norton can be proud to have created a film that addresses the issue of racism with dramatically forceful impact. --Jeff Shannon

[DS1]

16. Seriously? I think you're wasting your time with this one.

And I don't mean the movie.

[Catch22Dem]

23. Really?

Is there something I should know?

[HEyHEY]

8. Animal house!

Well, truthfully I'd say Harrison's flowers was pretty strong

[Abelman]

10. I want to see it

But have never taken the time. Ed Norton is a fantastic actor, and I really would like to see it just because of him.

[Mr. Blonde]

13. He got pretty jacked for this movie

Look at him in anything else and he looks pretty small. In this he looks like 200lbs of Don't Fuck With Me.

[ghostsofgiants]

14. Three words:

Haha, American History X is great though.

[bigwillq]

15. One of the best movies I've ever seen!

I didn't see it when it first came out, I actually saw it for the first time last year and I was blown away.
Chilling, powerful indeed.
I cried my eyes out at the end and didn't stop staring at the screen for like 15 minutes afterwards. I was too stunned to move.

[Padraig18]

18. "Reds"

After I finished watching it, I was ready to take my torch and pitchfork and go burn Republican headquarters.

:evilgrin:

[ikojo]

19. Very scary movie....

[7th_Sephiroth]

20. Six String Samurai

no rhyme or reason, Just The Red Elvises and an assload of Violence

[Blue_In_AK]

22. Oh, yes, absolutely

I LOVED that movie.

[imenja]

24. have you seen Believer?

That one is really interesting.

[Catch22Dem]

26. No, but there was some discussion about it...

earlier in this thread. I saw it at Blockbuster once and almost picked it up. Now I wish I would have.

[imenja]

29. get Netflix or some similar service

you can get anything on DVD. If you want a free month to netflix let me know, I got a thing in my email for it.

It's a wild movie because the White supremacist is a Jew. Apparently it's loosely based on a true story.

[JimmyJazz]

25. Can I just say that my teeth hurt for two days after watching that

film. The scene of the guy with his teeth on the curb was disturbing, but amazing.

But, I heard because of Ed Norton's behaviour and buttinskiness in the editing process that the director wanted to give it an Alan Smithee - unbelievable.

[Catch22Dem]

27. I saw some reference to that...

What exactly happened anyway?

[JimmyJazz]

30. I saw a documentary on the making of the film quite a while ago and

I can't recall all the details. I do remember that the final product was not what the director intended, but the details escape me. I did a google search and found this:

http://www.filmvault.com/filmvault/chicago/a/americanhistoryx1.html

It might be helpful.

[DemExpat]

28. One of my top movies, for sure.

DemEx