(Credit: Netflix)

Netflix’s decision to add the 1998 film American History X to the roster of classic movies on its platform has taken on more relevance than ever, in light of the rise of violent far-right extremism around the world. The movie stars Edward Norton in the first of two back-to-back performances as an aggressive protagonist with fascist leanings, before his role in Fight Club the following year.

American History X sees 29-year-old Norton take on the part of Derek Vinyard, a murderous neo-Nazi taken in by a local figurehead of white supremacism, motivated by the killing of his father by a black drug dealer. Vinyard ends up doing time in prison after murdering two black gang members who try to steal his truck, in one of the most horrific scenes of deadly violence ever to appear on a cinema screen.

Meanwhile, he’s set an example for his younger brother Danny, who gets involved in the same neo-Nazi organisation Derek was a part of before prison, even though he’s still at school. Derek’s mentor, Cameron Alexander, takes Danny under his wing at the same time as the organisation appears to be growing.

Yet Derek himself has transformed during his time behind bars. As he tells his ex-girlfriend, a fellow member of the neo-Nazi group, “I don’t want it anymore. I’m done with it, I’m through with it. It’s bullshit, Stacey.” He also opens up to Danny about his new outlook, explaining to him that their racist ideology is “wrong”. Together, the two brothers take down the Nazi insignia on the wall of their family home.

What changed Derek?

When Derek goes to tell Alexander the same thing, the man who cultivated his hatred towards other races is taken aback by his transformation. “I lost three years of my life for your fucking phoney cause,” Derek tells Alexander, “but I’m onto you now, you snake.”

This statement goes some way to explaining how Norton’s character has turned from a murderous Nazi into a positive example for his brother. He feels that all he got for adhering to Alexander’s ideology of hate was three years of jail time, while the cause itself has nothing else to offer.

The change in Derek’s views occurred long before his final confrontation with Cameron Alexander. It was a prison that opened his eyes to the true hollowness and hypocrisy of white supremacist ideology. Firstly, when he realises the racist Aryan Brotherhood gang, he’s joined is actually doing deals with the Hispanic gang they claim to despise. As he observes the Brotherhood’s leader Mitch McCormick liaising with his Hispanic opposite number, Derek realises, “He didn’t believe in shit. None of them did.” He walks away from the gang, ignoring the Nazi salute he receives from McCormick, never to return.

The Aryan Brotherhood members then savagely rape Derek in the shower as revenge for his decision to leave the group, in a harrowing scene that’s not for the faint-hearted. And without their protection, he’s open to attacks from rival prison gangs he had a history of racially abusing.

But he’s saved from brutal beatings at the hands of an African-American gang in prison thanks to the good word put in for him by his fellow inmate Lamont, who happens to be black. On his way to being released, he tells Lamont, “I’m thinking maybe the only reason I’m getting out of here in one piece is you.” The two share a moving gesture of friendship, which demonstrates that there’s no way back to white supremacy in Derek’s mind.

Sadly, at the end of the movie, Danny has to pay the price for the poisonous ideas Derek had fed him before his time in prison. A black student kills him he’d previously racially abused, which serves as a reminder of the cycle of violence perpetuated by the scourge of racial hatred. It takes more than Derek alone to save himself from a hateful ideology to end racial violence for good.