Boring. It was predictable and transparent as a pretender to the “American History X” throne. The twist on this one was that the lead Nazi character in this one was Jewish. We see in flash-backs that God makes no sense to him so he rebels in Hebrew school and defies God to kill him. We pick up with him as a full-on skinhead harassing and beating up Jews.
The movie takes us through his “articulate” speeches and shows him to be well educated. I found them to be rather plain and not very insightful but maybe it’s just me. He becomes more involved with the underground and is torn between being a cleaned up spokesman for the movement and a common thug.
The love interest was fluff. She served absolutely no real purpose. It was just a chance to see Summer Phoenix’s tits. It seems that’s all she ever plays. I much more preferred her in SLC Punk where she played the same type character but where she had that one good line that has stuck with me ever since. Although we don’t see her chest in SLC Punk, her dish-rag performance is at least bolstered by a memorable line.
Everyone else in the film is forgettable. The lead was alright, he may develop into something better. When I saw the credits in the beginning, they saved the worst for last. Just as the movie started, it flashed “Billy Zane” and “Theresa Russell”. I almost turned it off right then. I should have, I would have gotten more out of it.
The only saving grace in this was the research someone did to make it look authentic to the average movie-goer. If you were ever involved with the Neo-Nazi movement, you will see errors. If you were ever in Hebrew Schul, you will see errors, but on the whole, it gave a good sense of authenticity when we were seeing both worlds.
The FATAL FLAW in this film is Daniel’s respect for the Torah. The skinhead crew breaks into a synagogue to vandalize it and plant a bomb in the pulpit. Daniel has no problem with spray-painted swastikas on the altar cloths, urinating from the balcony or even planting the bomb to go off during services. But he has trouble when the gang opens up the curtain and takes out the Torah. I can understand this to a degree. I can totally go with his character feeling uneasy about it or even trying to stop it. I felt the disrespect of the “holiest of holies” and I felt queasy watching them do it. But as his gang unrolls it and starts to make fun of it, he tries to educate them about it. When they call him on it, he covers with “Know thy enemy”. OK, good cover, but then he’s all over them with “Don’t touch the letters” and “Put it back”. Showing respect for something he claims to despise. He tips off the rest of the gang and they start to suspect him. Later on, he actually shows up at an assassination attempt wearing a prayer shawl under his (Johnny Rotten rip off) swastika t-shirt! This movie is totally unbelievable! There’s no way to bridge these 2 worlds. Reading the Torah and wearing a prayer shawl before pulling out the sniper rifle to assassinate the Jewish leader is ludicrous and it is ridiculous that this movie ever got made.
Leave a Reply