“American History X” is one of the most violent and disturbing films that I’ve ever seen but it’s also incredibly powerful and one perhaps even more impressive than “Do The Right Thing”, which similarly focused on the issue of racial tensions.

In “American History X”, Derek Vineyard (Edward Norton “Fight Club”) was a violent white supremacist that shot a bunch of black gangsters but now he has left prison and he’s left behind the neo-Nazi skinhead movement. He wants to help ensure that his younger brother (Edward Furlong “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”) doesn’t go down the same wrong path that he did.

Edward Norton does a terrific job and in the flashback scenes you really believe that he’s a committed racist and in the other scenes you truly get the sense that he’s reformed and has seen the error of his ways. Edward Furlong is also really good as Derek’s younger brother, Danny. Avery Brooks (“15 Minutes”) is entertaining as a teacher committed to ensuring that Danny doesn’t throw his life away by demanding that Danny writes a paper about his brother after Danny previously turned in a report about Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”. The other characters are also very good.

“American History X” features a terrifying sexual assault in a prison shower, it features a man’s head being stomped on and the torturing of ethnic minority shop workers by neo-Nazi thugs and endless streams of racial abuse but the film is intelligent enough and features enough great performances for it to pull it off. “American History X” clearly illustrates a transition from legitimate immigration and gang violence concerns to outright racism and extreme violence in a very powerful way. Maybe you think “Do The Right Thing” was more impressive but either way, I think you’ll agree that “American History X” is definitely worth watching.