American History X | The Concept of State and Ethnic Conflicts

Set in the United States, the film focuses on the lives of Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) and Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong) in the underground drama of the American gangs and establishes their narrative within the conflict between neo-Nazis and black community groups. Using a dual narrative feature, director Tony Kaye explores the story of Derek and his journey as a white supremacist through the eyes of his brother, Danny, who tells his story while writing a school essay entitled American History X that gives name to the long one in the original).

In his aesthetic choices, Tony Kaye appeals to the screen feature in black and white to distinguish the past narrated by Danny from the present where Danny is not regarded as the narrator of his brother’s story, but the main focus of the narrative exposing the conflicts between the young man in the environment that was exposed and how his brother, changed after his experience in prison (the consequence of having murdered two black men), tries to collaborate so that Danny does not end up having the same future. And on such a journey, Avery Brooks' character, Dr. Bob Sweeney, one of the teachers (black - this detail is relevant) of the school where Danny studies, appears as a collaborator in trying to demonstrate to Danny, by confronting him with story of his brother, the consequences of the…