American History X and Freedom Writers

Finally saw American History X last night.

It is one of those films that people always mention and say it's very good. And it is. There seemed to be plenty of reasons why it shouldn't be, such as the overblown Hollywood style score, B&W sequences from the past etc. However, the acting and dialogue is very fine and the film is powerful, believable and shocking. It depicts issues of society and race with far greater eloquence than Freedom Writers. FW feels heavy, marketed as that sleek kind of indie film, does manage to distinguish itself from similarly casted films such as Save The Last Dance but this is probably down to the fact that it is based on a true story which makes it harder to reject the characters completely. It attempts to build the teachers character through a side story about her and her husband which is kind of obvious/unrealistic and pointless. If the teacher from Half Nelson was teaching the Freedom Writers it might be a different story.

AHX shouldn't really challenge most peoples perception of race but it can demonstrate the dangers of manipulation and trust and as it states at the end, far greater than race, the idea of hate.