Jul 01, 2009 08:00 PM
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When Ed Norton took on the role of Bruce Banner, who becomes the Incredible Hulk, in effect he was essaying a superhero, whose main characteristic has been a defining point of his career. A man within another man, or what we call as split personality. Be it Aaron Stampler in Primal Fear or the nameless narrator in Fight Club, Norton seems to excel in roles where a person is split between two identities.
Even in a dramatic movie like American History X, Norton had 2 phases, one of a racist Neo Nazi skinhead, and the other as the repentant convict, trying to stop his brother from becomming what he was. Most of his career, has seen Norton playing the role of troubled conflicted individuals.
But then considering Norton’s first major role was of a conflicted individual, I guess that set the tone for his career. Primal Fear in 1996, was what made people sit up and take notice of Norton. As Aaron Stampler a young, nervous altar boy, on trial for the murder of the archbishop, Norton was just brilliant. Especially in that particular scene, where Aaron Stampler assumes the persona of his alter ego Roy. Till then we see him nervous, stammering, protesting his innocence, and then he makes a switch to Roy. That bit when he makes that switch is absolutely effortless, natural, that for a moment, he just left me stunned. And his expressions when he is Roy, his way of dialog delivery, his cocky demenaor, when interacting with Richard Gere, fantastic. This scene made me a big time fan ofNorton, and from then, never lost a chance to see his movies. Norton followed it up with supporting acts in The People vs Larry Flynt as Flynt’s attorney Alan Isaacman, and later one of the star cast in Woody Allen’s musical **Everyone Says I Love You.
In 1998, Norton came in Rounders, along with Matt Damon, with both of them playing Poker players, in a noirish thriller, quite an under appreciated movie I felt. And then came Norton’s tour de Force as Derek Vinyard a racist ex Neo Nazi, in American History X.One of the best movies dealing with the prickly issue of racism in America, Norton plays the role of Derek, a suburban resident, who is influenced by his father’s racist views. When his Dad is killed during a shooting by Black youths, he becomes totally racist, blaming Blacks and Latinos, for the increase in crime rate. He joins a Neo Nazi group, and is later arrested by the cops for his murder of a Black person. However his encounters with a white supremacist group in prison, and also another Black prisoner, make him question his actions, and he slowly turns repentant. However he learns to his horror, that his younger brother Danny, who has grown up idolizing him, has now become a skin head.
American History X, was a very insightful look at racism in US society, and the faultlines it operates. Derek is imbibed with a racism, from his father, and his father’s murder only adds to his distrust. Ed Norton brilliantly captures the transition from a young impressionable suburban youth, to a totally cruel, merciless racist who hates Non Whites to a repentant person who learns from his experiences in prison and finally a person who needs to prevent his younger brother from following the same destructive path he had. Be it the scene where Derek finally realizes the folly of his ways in prison or the scene where he confronts his younger brother, or the final death scene, Ed Norton is just brilliant. He makes you empathize with his character, you feel for him, and when finally he falls, you feel a sense of sorrow.
Norton followed up American History X, with another cult classic Fight Club, where he teamed up with Brad Pitt. As the nameless narrator, who becomes tangled in a messy relationship with Tyler Durden( Brad Pitt) and a destitute womanMarla( Helena Bonham Carter), Norton holds his own against Pitt. Basically the movie was a black comedy against the hold of advertising on common people. As Norton said “I feel that Fight Club really, in a way… probed into the despair and paralysis that people feel in the face of having inherited this value system out of advertising.” The impact of Fight Club went way beyond commercial success. The movie actually caused men to think over what they were in a society, their role. Like Shawshank Redemption, it was a commercial failure in theaters, but went on to become a Cult succcess on the DVD circuit. It was in a way the 90’s Rebel Without a Cause.
I have not seen Keeping the Faith, though it was well received as a comedy. In Frida he played the tycoon Nelson Rockfeller, who commisions, the artist Diego Rivera( Alfred Molina) to paint the famous mural Man at the Crossroads. He has a dispute with the leftist leaning Rivera over painting Lenin’s face, and the artist disagrees, following which the mural is destroyed. In fact the same scene was referenced in Anbe Sivam, where Kamal refuses to change the painting as per the industrialist Naazar’s wish, and later Naazar breaks down the wall. Norton again co starred with Antony Hopkins in Red Dragon, the 4th of the Hannibal series. While the movie was a commercial success, critically it was not welcomed widely.
