Powerful and Powerfully Played
Rating: 10 of 10 
"Hatred is baggage" - as it's demonstrated by this movie in a stunning and devastating way. I do not remember a movie showing certain things that bluntly like this one did; there was of course 'Schindler's List'; but that was about Nazi Germany. This one is about Nazis in America. I personally cannot understand how such a movement could set its foot in America; this is somehow one of the most bizarre facts of history, as bizarre and unimaginable as the genocide of the Native Americans and slavery. The land of the free is deconstructed very drastically; all kinds of social problems are being touched - providing a view of America which is much more detailed, also by showing details we usually wouldn't want to see.
The topic of the motion picture is dealt with through the focus of a family. The elder son, Derek Vinyard, once kind of a Nazi leader, but convicted for man slaughter and after three years in prison, has changed completely. In the meantime, his younger brother, Daniel, has been following the violent steps of his brother; now confronted with the new Derek. For both boys, the principal of their school plays an important role in guiding them back to humanity; this role being played by Avery Brooks - as great as ever. But his younger colleagues are just as brilliant as he is: Edward Norton plays Derek in a performance which to describe with 'stunning' would be underestimating it even. Edward Furlong, playing Danny, has less screen-time but shows as much potential as the two others. The rest of the cast has little or no chance against those three; Jennifer Lien amongst them. But that doesn't matter at all.
Directing and photography are just breathtaking; frightening, compassionate, revealing. The switching between color and black-and-white backshifts might not be new, but it is somehow being re-defined by this movie. Regarding the topic; this is really frightening, also deeply sad - for at the source of that hatred, there is mostly either fear or evil; evil with those in the background putting their brown crap into the heads of some youngsters. Fear is the food such movements are nurtured with; leading to paranoia and hate. Can the truth help against this? This movie tries to find an answer; but it also shows that at the core, there are human beings. And also monsters like the old Derek Vinyard are able to turn into a human again.
February 28th, 1999 / August 15th, 2002
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