I feel like I’ve thought about race every day for the past year. Everyday there’s a little something which puts it on the radar screen. Maybe the racist joke by a friend which is hilarious but wrong. Maybe the not-so-subtle discrimination from which I benefit. Maybe the affirmative action from which I hurt. Or maybe it’s movies like Crash, or American History X which I saw tonight.
After I posted about Crash a few weeks ago a friend recommended American History X. I only watch movies if it comes highly recommended (but it doesn’t matter how much you recommend a TV show – I will never watch TV live). American History X shook me up like Crash did. This time it showed the extreme side of racism: neo-Nazis and how one man’s prison time changed his outlook. What I liked about Crash was that you left feeling like the problem exists on a very everyday level, on the corner of any street. American History X lets the viewer feel like it’s a problem that only exists on the fringes, but it is instructive and moving nonetheless.
Given our previous basketball discussions, I’m surprised you didn’t mention the most unbelievable part about the movie: The fact that it asks us to believe that Edward Norton’s character could dunk a basketball.
It already requires a considerable suspension of disbelief to swallow a bunch of neo-Nazis beating a team of black ballers in a pickup game. To then show Norton (who must be 5’7″ at most) dunking to end the game beggars belief.