American History X

             ``American History X'' shows how two Los Angeles brothers are drawn into a neo-Nazi skinhead gang, and why one decides to free himself. Derek is a bright kid who has become the leader of a skinhead gang in Venice Beach, California. His kid brother Danny idolizes him, and to some degree steps into his shoes--although he lacks Derek's intelligence and gift for rhetoric. At school, Danny is a good student, as Derek was before him. Both are taught by a black history teacher named Mr. Sweeney, who supplies the moral center of the film. Later, Derek becomes the right hand man of a shadowy adult neo-Nazi, named Cameron. .
             One night two black kids attempt to steal Derek's car, as the result of a playground feud. He shoots one of them dead and the crushes the other one"s skull in to the cement. He's convicted of murder and sent to prison for three years. In prison, Derek undergoes a slow evolution from a white zealot to a quiet loner. During the initial months of Derek's time in prison he attempts friendship with the other whites. With a swastika tattooed on his chest, he fits in briefly with the white power faction, but is disillusioned to find that all the major groups in prison (blacks, Hispanics, whites) have a working agreement. That's too much cooperation for Derek so he openly rejects the white group by sitting by himself at lunch. This open disrespect angers the whites and their brutal rape of Derek in the shower helps to speed his metamorphosis. Another contributing factor is Derek's assignment to the laundry duty, where his black co-worker gradually begins to seem human to him. The black laundry worker's discussion with Derek about sex and how much he misses it gives the two of them some common ground. .
             After his sentence is up, Derek gets out of prison and tries to find a new direction for himself, Danny, and their family. Derek and Danny's family consists of a chronically sick mother and two younger sisters.