Absolutely astonishing..I've never seen a movie get inside the head of its protagonists the way this one does. It almost has a documentary feel to it, the way we observe Derek's development is so well portrayed - it's an odyssey of a journey. It reminds me, in some ways, of Oliver Stone's Talk Radio (another great film). Here is a guy with some real pain inside and is looking for an outlet. Well, he finds it with the help of Stacy Keach's character and it would have been interesting to see their initial encounter. This movie succeeds where lesser attempts (like Higher Learning) fail, probably because the film treats all of its characters, racists and non-racists alike as people (not an easy thing to do) and not just cardboard racial or social stereotypes. The dialogue is tremendous. I don't know why people here seem to have trouble with Derek's laundry co-worker, his dialogue is really so much more than simple jokes. Perhaps there are some flaws in this film, but it doesn't matter. You'd have to be dead inside not to be moved...
Review of American History X
