A History of Violence
Written by Josh Olson
Directed by David Cronenberg
New Line
2005
Rating:


"A History of Violence" opens with an extended shot outside of a dusty motel. Two men — the older, sinister looking Leland (Stephen McHattie) and the deceptively doughy William (Greg Bryk) — stand beside their red convertible and converse in a style that's somewhere between Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch in its humorous vacuity. Leland eventually walks down to the front desk to check out while William hilariously drives the convertible three yards to the office. After a brief delay, Leland emerges from the office and, annoyed upon seeing that the water jug is nearly empty, sends William inside for a refill. The camera follows William inside and, in his search for the water cooler, he steps over Leland's handiwork — Leland has mercilessly shot everyone inside. A little girl suddenly appears in the back of the office, crying and holding a stuffed animal. William puts a finger to his lips, seemingly to reassure her, until he pulls a gun from his pants and, taking his time, he pulls the trigger.

As a deconstruction of America's troubling relationship with violence, the cinema hasn't seen much better than Canadian director David Cronenberg's latest opus. From that opening scene, Cronenberg dares the audience to be titillated by the massacre within the office, to find the detachment of the executions "cool." He then pulls the rug out from underneath the audience and punishes it for the excitement created by bloodshed.

After the motel sequence, the film shifts its focus to the All-American family of Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), who lives in Millbrook, Ind., a too-perfect town that simultaneously feels authentic and like a throwback to the studio sets of the 1950s. Tom runs the local diner while his wife Edie (Maria Bello) works as a local lawyer. His teenage son Jack (Ashton Holmes) is a smart student, which means that he must face the daily wrath of a pretty boy bully (Kyle Schmid) with only his wit to defend himself. Tom also has a young daughter, Sarah (Heidi Hayes), who is afraid of the monsters in her closet. Tom assures her that there's no such thing. Of course, he's lying.

In a scene that turns out to emblemize the return of the repressed, Leland and William visit and hold-up Tom's diner, and though Tom offers the men the little amount of money he has within the cash register when they threaten violence, the men have a bloodlust that cannot be contained. When Tom reacts against the men with surprising viciousness, the town (and the audience) treats him like a hero. But his actions, a top story even in the national news, soon bring gangster Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) to Millbrook and Tom's simple life is torn apart.

A meta-thriller/western/gangster film of the highest order, "A History of Violence" deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as such comparable films as "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," "Straw Dogs," "Blue Velvet" and "Dogville." Though no polemic, Cronenberg's film certainly attacks American ambivalence toward violence. Anyone who thinks Cronenberg and screenwriter Josh Olson (loosely working from a graphic novel) are going over the top need only sit in a crowded theater playing this film and listen as the audience raucously applauds each time Tom shoots someone. The audience indicts itself. "A History of Violence" never posits that violence is never justified, but, like Sam Peckinpah, it forces the audience to recognize the physical and psychological damage it causes.

The film also explores the violence bubbling beneath the surface in seemingly bucolic small towns and the way that violence can spread. After Tom's showdown at the diner, Jack becomes emboldened against his bullies, putting aside the verbal retorts that have worked so well for him in the past to explode with a monstrous rage. Tom himself is no longer able to contain his brutality to simply defensive purposes, first striking Jack when he blames his father for his violent impulses and then hitting Edie when she begins to believe the things Fogarty says about him.

Edie's reaction to Tom's display is especially complex. When the film begins, Tom and Edie's marriage is a happy one. Tom is comfortable enough with his masculinity that he's at ease with Edie being the family breadwinner and the one who, at least in the film, always initiates sex. Edie even sends the kids off one night so that she and her husband can have sex in her childhood bed, with Edie dressed in her high school cheerleading outfit. This is the rare sex scene that shows real pleasure and spontaneity in lovemaking, but it also sets the stage for the characters finding themselves in a position where they're constantly role-playing. (Intriguingly, the characters seem to be more "themselves" when they resort to violence.) It's especially important that the film establishes Tom as a good father, a passionate husband and a respected member of the community before the violence at the diner because, unlike "Straw Dogs," Tom's bloodshed can't be misinterpreted as Tom engaging in a rite of violence to become a "real man."

After the diner shootout, Edie treats Tom like a hero just like everyone else, but when she begins to suspect that Tom may be a different man than she once believed, she throws up. She's also a little aroused. When Tom chases her up the stairs and tackles her, she's initially horrified, but, in a nod to "Straw Dogs," she then initiates sex with him. Tenderness and violence can go hand-in-hand. There's no fun here, however, and Edie is soon left to cry, naked, as bruises form on her back.

Through the scenes from Tom and Edie's marriage, "A History of Violence" finds emotional fallout within the carnage. Tom is eventually forced to do more killing, but it's as part of a life that he doesn't really want. Tom's true desire is to be able to sit with his family and eat meatloaf, tell his daughter that there are no monsters and mean it and make love to his wife. It's only once Tom confronts the violence within him that he can return to his family.

Posted Thursday, September 29, 2005

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