User Reviews

It may sound odd, but I can't talk about this film without talking about JOKER. The thing that most frustrated me about the backlash to that film was how it ignored Phillips's diagnosis of a problem. Senseless violence, the film implicitly argues, is being driven in part by society neglecting young men from troubled and abusive backgrounds, devoid of purpose and susceptible to mental illness.

Here we have what happens when a young man from a troubled and abusive background is devoid of purpose. He gets picked up by psychopathic predators who train him to become a violent white supremacist. And the journey to how he got there was the key to understanding him enough to get him out.

The biggest takeaway for me here is how violent and radical movements prey on vulnerable people from troubled backgrounds. This film is willing to sit down and look that dangerous movement, and these dangerous people, straight in the face and not blink. And most importantly, it does that long enough to understand Bryon. Condemn him too, sure, but know what drove him there in the first place, too.

That honesty goes a long way. It extends to his leaving, too, how enormously difficult it was between saying he was leaving and actually getting out. A really powerful story from start to finish and phenomenally acted by Jamie Bell. Props also to Vera Farmiga, one of the most underrated actresses in the business.

Empathy. Prayer. Community. If we don't reach out to these wandering, suffering souls, the monsters will. And they're good at it.

I remember seeing the poster for this film, recognising the former child star of Billy Elliot in the leading role being covered in facial tattoos, then I found out this was based on a true story, so I was definitely going to watch it. Basically, Bryon "Babs" Widner (Jamie Bell) was a violent Neo-Nazi white power skinhead covered in racist tattoos. He became disillusioned by the white supremacist movement by an incident involving the burning of a mosque in his hometown. He left the movement and wants to turn his life around. Bryon marries local resident Julie Price (Danielle Macdonald), a single mother to three young daughters who he met previously while with the group. He begins to work odd jobs alongside undocumented workers, they begin to accept him because he wants to stop being racist. The white supremacist members retaliate by shooting out his home with him and a pregnant Julie inside. Bryon and Julie were unharmed in the attack, but he sees that they hanged his dog in a tree after he stepped outside. To prevent the supremacists from further harming his family, Bryon meets with political activist Daryle Lamont Jenkins (Mike Colter) and FBI agent Marks (Mary Stuart Masterson). Bryon provides them with information, and the FBI raids the white supremacist compound. Krager (Bill Camp), one of the leading figures of the racist group, is arrested. In the aftermath of the supremacist raid, Jenkins continues heading the One People's Project and remains good friends with Bryon. Bryon himself went through two years of painful laser surgeries to have all his racist face and hand tattoos removed. He worked on getting a degree in criminal psychology and goes all around America doing talks about tolerance and inclusion from his own experience. Also starring Vera Farmiga as Bryon's mother Shareen, Mary Stuart Masterson as Agent Jackie Marks, Daniel Henshall as Slayer, Louisa Krause as April, Zoe Margaret Colletti as Desiree, Kylie Rogers as Sierra, Colbi Gannett as Iggy, Sean Cullen as Dr. Bruce Shack, and Tyler Williamson as young Bryon Widner. Bell gives a fierce convincing performance as the relatively sympathetic former racist heavily tattooed thug who has a change of heart and wants to better himself, Macdonald is fine as his forgiving wife, and Camp has some good moments as a fellow bigot he formerly looked up to. I will admit it was slightly slow in places and is maybe a little longer than it needs to be, but the scenes of brutality and horrible chanting, the lead character wanting forgiveness and redemption, and the uncomfortable laser surgery scenes do get your attention, and it does deliver important messages of prejudice and acceptance, overall it is an interesting enough biographical drama. Good!