American History X

[Invictus]

*Spoiler Alert*

I saw this movie for the first time quite recently and was stunned at how pathetically it performed as an anti-racist statement. None of the positions espoused by Derek as a Nazi were refuted when he reforms- a reformation based on emotion rather than reason. Virtually every black person in the film is depicted as a thug while the Nazis are merely victims of their crimes. Most significantly, despite Derek's transformation his brother still gets brutally shot by one of the black kids at the end.

It seems to be a greater indictment of affirmative action opponents than of racism. Observe that Seth uses the insult "democrat" to describe his ideological opponents, as if it is only democrats who would possibly oppose Nazism. Additionally, what was supposed to invoke Derek's racist ideals is the following, very reasonable, comment made by his father, "I got two black guys on my squad now who got their job over a couple of white guys who actually scored higher in the test". This is an obvious attempt to equate anything that isn't leftism with Nazism.

American History X is yet another frustrating piece of liberal diatribe to come out of the Hollywood cesspit.