Edward Norton: 5 Awesome Performances With 5 Violent Alter-Egos

3. American History X - Derek Vineyard

In the 1998 drama American History X, Edward Norton delivers one of his very best performances, one that received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In the film, Norton plays Derek Vineyard, a man with no alter egos to speak of figuratively, but he plays a man looking at his life from two completely polar opposites of the spectrum. Told through a series of flashbacks, the film shows us early on the violent and malevolent nature of Vineyard. He is shown from the outset as a Neo-Nazi skinhead, a brooding and muscular figure who is seen as a leader among his fellow skinheads. Vineyard is sent to prison for killing a black teenager in cold blood, and its in prison that he discovers the next phase of his life. Upon his release from prison, Vineyard has changed his outlook on life, and regrets the existence and the rage that he used to carry with him. He learns to be tolerant in prison, he learns that being ostracized for who you are and what you believe in is not a fair way to be treated and abused and ultimately renounces his violent past. The performance is one to marvel at, as Norton does not rely on any special narrative devices to show his progression from violent offender to a man ready to repent for his sins.