A History of Violence - Review

I have been wanting to blog about this movie for a long time. I saw it about a month ago and it has stayed with me in a way that few other movies have. It is an awesomely powerful movie, and one that I strongly (and hesitantly) recommend (how's that for duality)!

The movie opens up with two drifters who are checking out of a seedy hotel. One of the guys goes inside to "check out" and reappears about a minute later. You hear nothing and see only his partner waiting in the hot sun for him to come out. Before they drive away the other partner gets thirsty and goes inside the motel to fill his water jug. This time the camera follows the drifter inside and you see two people lying on the floor with their throats sliced open. The drifter barely notices them and opens up a cooler to get some water. As he is getting the water a side door opens up and standing there is a girl about the age of nine. The camera then zooms in to the drifter's hand grabbing his gun and then cuts to the other partner waiting in the car. Then you hear the gun go off.

David Cronenberg, the Director for this movie, makes it very clear that he is going to force the viewer to look at violence and it's effects in the starkest and most realistic terms.

Viggo Mortensen plays a mild mannered small town cafe owner named Tom Stall. He is married to Edie Stall (Maria Bello) and they have a son Jack Stall played by Ashton Holmes. Their life seems pretty normal even quaint until the day that the two drifters show up at closing time in Tom's cafe with the intention of robbing and killing everyone inside. Tom acts quickly and with devastatingly lethal force to stop these two men from following through with their plans. This gains Tom 15 minutes of notoriety that causes members of the Philadelphia mob to start stalking him and his family. They are convinced he is really someone named Joey Cusack, the brother of mob boss Richie Cusack (played brilliantly by William Hurt).

All of a sudden everything you have come to assume about Tom and his family begins to come into question as everyone (including the audience) is left to wonder just who Tom Stall really is.

I have seen a thousand movies where the hero ends up killing the bad guys or avenging a great injustice. The violence in those movies always seemed justified and in someways righteous. I would cheer right along with everyone in the audience each time a bad guy got what was coming to him. But this movie was completely different. Every death, every violent act, seemed only to make matters worse and more uncomfortable for the characters and the audience.

SPOILER COMING IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!!

No "good guy" dies in this film and every bad guy that dies does so while they are in the act of trying to hurt Tom or his family. These bad guys are really bad guys, as the opening scene of the movie establishes. But each time one of them gets it you see the cascading effect of the violence on Tom and especially his son.

The Sex Scenes:
I do not like sex scenes in movies. They make me uncomfortable and I don't need to see three minutes of "sheet wrestling" to get the point of what's has happened between two characters. I can't think of any sex scenes that I have seen in a movie that don't feel gratuitous and unecessary to me. Except for the two in this movie.

There is no nudity, but the scenes are very explicit. What was very powerful about the scenes to me were the stark differences between the sexual interaction at the beginning of the film between Tom and Edie, and the sex scene between them towards the end of the film.

The first scene effectively establishes the playful, loving, and mutual nature of the attraction and love between this long-time married couple. It is awkward to watch because you feel like you are really viewing a private interaction between two married people who would be completely embarrassed if anyone knew they behaved that way towards each other. The intimacy is authentic and completely built on the trust and history they each have with the other.

The second scene, towards the end of the movie, is completely opposite and one of the most uncomfortable moments I have ever had in a movie theater. Again there is no nudity, but it is very graphic. Gone is the intimacy built on history and trust and in it's place is Tom's desperate desire to regain and force control of a situation and a relationship that has quickly spiraled out of control. Throughout the scene Edie seems to be bating him, daring him, to reveal who he really is and to show her his truly violent nature. Gone is her previous vulnerability and eros love for Tom and in it's place is a calculating and manipulative woman who brings out the worst in the person who she formerly thought of as her husband.

All of this comes about because of the justifiable violence Tom reluctantly dishes out to people who want to harm him and his family. There are no easy answers in this film, but it's honest look at the destructiveness of violence has really changed things for me. This movie stands in stark contrast to the horrifically comical violence in Kill Bill. Kill Bill glorified the violence by making it over the top. History of Violence sheds a light on the reality and gruesomeness of violence that for me, was much more effective.

There is so much more to say about this movie. I didn't even get into the relationship between Tom and his son and what his son does to a ruthless bully at his school once he starts to think that his dad could be this ruthless killer in a past life. It really touches on the power of generational violence.

I do hesitate to recommend this movie a little bit. The violence is very authentic and gruesome and the sex scenes are very graphic and the second scene could border on traumatic. But for the first time in my life I can honestly say that the sex scenes and portrayal of the violence contributed immensely to the story and message of the movie. That message to me is that violence leaves every person it touches scarred in all facets of their lives no matter how justified the violence might be. Violence comes with a heavy price, a loss of innocence, and an allure that can entrap whole families and generations in it's web.

For a more polished review of this film, listen to this review from my favorite podcast, the Cinecast Podcast. You can hear their review of "History of Violence" here.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this movie for those of you who have seen it. Or even a tangential discussion on the value or lack of value that sex scenes have for you in movies.