American History X

American History X (1998) is a raw crime drama directed by Tony Kaye — watch it online on iFILM. Released by New Line Cinema, the film earned Edward Norton an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Derek Vineyard, a Los Angeles neo-Nazi who commands his neighborhood through fear and violence. Edward Furlong plays his younger brother Danny, who idolizes him.

Derek kills two men and goes to prison for three years. While he's inside, Danny keeps moving in the same direction. Behind bars, Derek's certainties start breaking apart — through a Black cellmate named Lamont and the slow, brutal reality of life among people he was taught to hate. The film cuts between past and present, black-and-white and color, and the contrast is the argument: who Derek was versus who he is trying to become.

The production itself was a fight — director Tony Kaye and Norton clashed throughout filming, and Kaye publicly disowned the theatrical cut, credited under the pseudonym Humpty Dumpty. The version audiences saw was shaped largely by Norton. 119 minutes. Stream American History X (1998) online on iFILM.