I will agree with those who say that the movie could have been better. There's an annoying tendency in movies lately to try and build drama with slow-motion photography and/or music from the soundtrack in painfully obvious ways. ("Does everyone understand this is a dramatic moment"? {music crashing in the background, people running in slo-mo}) AMX falls into that habit occasionally and deserves a few demerit points for it.
But forget all of that and watch the actors. All of them did an excellent job in this film. Norton is definitely the star of the show and deserves the praise he has received. The hateful gleam in his eye as he's being arrested was almost messianic. I also thought Avery Brooks did a fine job with his role, which all in all was too brief. He should have gotten more screen time.
Another plus for the film was that it usually didn't pull any punches. I mean, if you're going to look at the hateful, violent side of life, look at it. It also didn't get overly preachy, showing that even skinheads and gangbangers are seldom monsters through and through, just people with a lot of anger looking for answers in the wrong places. It is very graphic at times, with one death scene and one rape scene that are particularly brutal, but not sensationalized.
All in all, a good film. As with any film, you should appreciate what it is artistically first, then worry about any "message" second. AMX's message is obvious, and I doubt very many people, outside of neo-nazis and the Klan, are going to be upset by it.
But forget all of that and watch the actors. All of them did an excellent job in this film. Norton is definitely the star of the show and deserves the praise he has received. The hateful gleam in his eye as he's being arrested was almost messianic. I also thought Avery Brooks did a fine job with his role, which all in all was too brief. He should have gotten more screen time.
Another plus for the film was that it usually didn't pull any punches. I mean, if you're going to look at the hateful, violent side of life, look at it. It also didn't get overly preachy, showing that even skinheads and gangbangers are seldom monsters through and through, just people with a lot of anger looking for answers in the wrong places. It is very graphic at times, with one death scene and one rape scene that are particularly brutal, but not sensationalized.
All in all, a good film. As with any film, you should appreciate what it is artistically first, then worry about any "message" second. AMX's message is obvious, and I doubt very many people, outside of neo-nazis and the Klan, are going to be upset by it.