BEST OF THE DECADE - #6: A History of Violence

A History of Violence (2006): Dir. David Cronenberg. Written by Josh Olson, based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt. Rated R (strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use). Running time: 95 min.

**NOTE: This review freely discusses elements of the film’s plot, and if you have not yet seen the film or are unfamiliar with the plot, I would recommend watching it first.

The crime genre has been around since The Great Train Robbery captivated audiences in 1903. There is something thrilling about watching a life of crime unfold onscreen, almost as if we’re hardwired as humans to be entertained by such exploits. More than one hundred years after that first cinematic heist, the crime genre still dominates film and audiences continue to be entertained by the violent acts of robbers, drug dealers and gangsters. David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, adapted by Josh Olson from the graphic novel of the same name, is a compulsively entertaining film that capitalizes on this ingrained fascination with crime while also exploring the moral and psychological implications of violence. The film invites us to enjoy the action onscreen, but then questions that very instinctual pleasure.

A History of Violence is genre film populated by larger-than-life gangsters and quaint Midwesterners. A seemingly innocent family man, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), runs a diner in Millbrook, Indiana with his loving wife, Edie (Maria Bello). They have a son in high school and a daughter still young enough to be afraid of monsters under the bed. They know the sheriff on a first name basis and do nothing to invite trouble into Millbrook. This changes when a pair of professional killers passes through town, tries to rob the diner and murder everyone in it. Tom suddenly takes action by killing the two men with unusual efficiency for a small town man. Tom becomes a local hero and the media attention attracts a few “bad men” from out of town, most notably the menacing Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris), who recognizes Tom as an unfavorable acquaintance from years ago named Joey. The film is economically edited to a lean 95 minutes, yet David Cronenberg evokes more authentic emotion in those 95 minutes than most directors could in three hours. Every scene does its share of work, from subtleties at the breakfast table that establish the Stall family dynamics, to an earnest sex scene that shows Tom and Edie are still very much in love after years of marriage. Once the action starts, the film rockets along with a series of increasingly tense and revealing scenes.

Though the film functions as prime entertainment, it is also deeply layered with ideas regarding the nature of human violence. We see the teenaged Jack Stall possibly filling his father’s old shoes as he stands up to a bully in what turns out to be a more brutal fight that the typical hallway scuffle. Issues of identity make up the film’s main drama – are Tom and Joey really different identities, or two halves living within the same man? After Edie witnesses this other side of her husband come out, she confronts him in the hospital. Has their marriage been an act? Where is the line between lies and true emotion? Without ever betraying the moments that precede it, this scene pushes the film beyond the expectations we hold for a conventional crime drama.

A History of Violence is like a sequel we would never expect to see to a gangster film. Colorful characters like Ed Harris’s Carl Fogarty, or William Hurt as Joey’s brother are compelling enough to steal an entire film, but only make appearances here. William Hurt even received an Oscar nomination for his brief but charismatic 20 minutes of screen time. It’s as if the world of gangster films has seeped into the real world, and it’s from this interaction that A History of Violence creates its drama. Joey comes out of Tom in one violent moment, and that momentary transformation allows the past to commingle with the present.

David Cronenberg, who made a name for himself as an auteur of the bizarre with a string of cult-classic sci-fi and horror films, proves himself to be a masterful director here. Watch, for example, the final scene, when Viggo Mortensen comes home after a final visit with his brother and finds his family eating a meatloaf dinner in silence. As he stands outside his home, we see Joey and Tom at once in his face, and he wonders how the two identities can be reconciled. Without speaking a word, Edie looks up as he enters the room and Maria Bello’s expressive face asks him who he is, Tom or Joey? By cutting between close-ups of the two actors, a speechless conversation unfolds between them. Accompanied by Howard Shore’s musical score, this quiet moment of domesticity turns into the height of drama. The scene cuts to black and the film ends on a moment of uncertainty, but not ambiguity. The film has very clearly introduced big questions that do not have easy answers, if they have them at all. Cronenberg crafts a hugely entertaining film, but delves deeper than most filmmakers would by exploring the consequences of the characters’ violence. By reeling us in early and then turning the film on its head, he leaves us as devastated as the Stall family sitting at the dinner table.

- Steve Avigliano, 2/5/10