The ending of American History X (SPOILER ALERT)

Blisterman

Watched American History X again last night. Amazing film. The only thing that I've never liked, or really understood was the ending.

It seems so incongruous to the rest of the film. Edward Furlong's character finally sees the error of his ways. Edward Norton's Character has served his time, and is trying to set things right again, and yet completely uncalled for Edward Furlong gets shot, by a black kid.

Why does the movie end this way? Is it about Karma? The white power gang had terrorised innocent people, so, even though he'd renounced his earlier ways, and was no longer, so to say "a bad guy", they still had to be punished for their earlier behaviour.

It still doesn't sit right. Why would they redeem the character only to have him punished right afterwards.

Maybe, it's to show the parallels between the kid who killed him, and Edward Norton's character killing the burgalers. You don't really know much about the black kid, but I would imagine he thought he was justified in shooting Edward Furlong, for being an evil bigot, just as Edward Norton felt justified in killing the car theives. But again, it doesn't tie up. You don't get any sense of any character learning anything from this.

Anyone here have any thoughts?

The Bollox

personally I do like the ending. It says, to me, that once you get into any type of dangerous lifestyle it is almost impossible to walk away.

for example if some deranged person broke into your house and killed one of your family members, then got carted off to jail where he served his time, and afterwards declares he has seen the error of his ways, you are still going to be very sore about what he did to you and your family. So if you saw him walking down the street a free man a lot of violent scenarios will enter your mind.

It's a great ending because everyone was so preoccupied with keeping Derek safe from the skin heads that they completly overlooked Daniels safety. I love that film, Edward Norton plays his part exceptionally well

FX Meister

You can't escape your past. PHACT

zuroph

what it says to me is that no matter if someone renounces a bad way of life, there will always be others to pick up where u left off, there will always be conflict.

The Artist

i suppose the way it ended would prove a point not to stay with the gang.
if hed never was with the gang hed be still be alive.
like i said being into some sort of gang will lead to bad things.
As now in the world it happens all the time,all the brutal gang related murders just dosent stop imo.

zAbbo

At the time of watching it first, it just didn't seem to fit either, and never really has, I don't - I get the message behind it, but it just didn't seem fitting for a great movie.

311

Did the black guys towards the end of the film actually have any idea of edward norton's past. I thought maybe the ending was showing that racism exists ,no matter what you try to do about it.

estebancambias

The point was that in many US cities, black kids bring in guns to school and could shoot you for blowing smoke in their face.

FX Meister

thats total bs este. If you honestly believe that racist tripe then.......

monkeyfudge

Well it could have something to do with the row over the final edit of the film actually.

The director Tony Kaye tried to disown the film over the final edit actually.

estebancambias

FX Meister wrote: »

thats total bs este. If you honestly believe that racist tripe then.......

I'm joking. But the reason he shot him did seem rather fickle to say the least.

stereoroid

I thought it was simply a way of making the film more "real", saying that just two guys getting their act together is not a solution to the wider problems. Or, to say that racism is not the only problem that needs sorting. (Was the last killing even racially-motivated? I thought it was something petty & stupid.)

Jack B. Badd

Life isn't fair. Neither is this film. It is, however, very bloody good.

Ruu_Old

311 wrote: »

Did the black guys towards the end of the film actually have any idea of edward norton's past. I thought maybe the ending was showing that racism exists ,no matter what you try to do about it.

I seem to remember

him and his friends driving by Norton's home mimicking a shooting

. Not sure how relevant that is though. Been a while since I seen it, must pull out the DVD. Brilliant film.

Call Me Jimmy

Edward Norton makes this film - such a naturalistic actor. I remember when I was 15 thinking it was the best thing I'de ever seen but as I've gotten older I guess I've found it a little shallow and not quite as well thought out as some people may give it credit for (although maybe that's because of the editing that monkeyfudge aluded to).

Killme00

According to the geeks at IMDB.... After the whole bathroom seen with the crackhead gangbanger killing danny, there is a another scene where it shows seth,derek and the mother back at the house with seth shaving derek's head then fads to black. The director Tony Kaye I understand wanted to inculde this but the film studio freaked out (of course) and they axed it early on so it just ended with the voiceover of danny and the chopped up Lincoln quote.

I quite liked the ending of this film and although it will have many different meanings for people, here is what it means to me. When Derek came out of prison, he wanted to forget his past and move on with the rest of his life and build a future for him and his family. With Dannys death, Dereks hand is forced into action and the question really is what that action will be. IMO Derek rejoins the white power freaks to break them from within.

Earthhorse

Yeah, I watched this on Friday or whenever it was on. Such a powerful film with an amazing performance from Norton at its centre.

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Well it could have something to do with the row over the final edit of the film actually.

The director Tony Kaye tried to disown the film over the final edit actually.

Reading up on this Kaye comes across as a little indulgent. 14 months to edit and he still couldn't come up with a cut he was satisfied with? I've heard that McKenna (the writer) has come out in defence of Norton, saying he saved the film from the hands of Kaye and that doesn't seem beyond belief (though I can't find anything as strong as that from McKenna).

stereoroid wrote: »

I thought it was simply a way of making the film more "real"

Yeah, I thought so too. Early drafts of the script do include the scene with

Norton shaving his head again at the end

and although that's dramatically more neat, providing the film with a resolve it's probably a little too dramatic to be accurate. The film doesn't compromise in a lot of respects and neither should the ending, even if that's slightly less satisfying.

molloyjh

I took it as an "actions have consequences" ending with a bit of the whole prevalence of violence in society thing. For as much as both characters are redeemed in the film, neither can escape their past. Both have to suffer in some way. I think the final scene was partially motivated by racism. To me it seemed like a gang initiation thing used to punish Derek with the guys in the car the night before followed the next day with the shooting. Hardly a coincidence I reckon.

I don't like the thought of Derek going back into the white supremicist gang. He'd come so far and at the end was crying "What have I done". That was the most powerful scene in the whole movie, his realisation that the path he took had impact on others besides himself. He blames himself at the end and for him to go back to Seth and Cameron after that would mean that he blames someone else, which defeats the purpose of the film.

Blisterman

I agree. What would the point of the movie be, if they didn't learn anything from it.

giddyup

I still would have liked to see what Tony Kaye had planned. He's a really interesting bloke. Ever since I saw that wacko Dunlop ad he did I've taken an interest in what he's been up to. I'm still trying to get to see Lake of Fire and looks like he's finally gotten around to directing another feature - due out sometime in the next 5 years.