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Director: David Cronenberg
Release Date: September 30th, 2005
Rating: R (for strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use)
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 With a title like "A History of Violence", I was expecting some sort of semi-documentary with a liberal message that would make me want to get violent. Instead, I was shocked to find a movie with a compelling story, interesting characters, and no message.
Viggo Mortensen plays Tom Stall, a small-town guy living in a Midwest small town. He's got a wife and two kids. He also owns a dinner which is frequented by most of the townsfolk. Everyone knows each others' names.
The movie starts off at a slow pace, developing the characters of Tom and his family and their small-town life.
One night while Tom is closing shop, a couple of hoodlums come in and demand some coffee. Although Tom is closing, these guys are really thirsty. Tensions rise until the thugs are pointing guns at everyone in the shop. Tom attempts to calm them down until Thug 2 starts abusing a girl in the shop.
What would you do in this instance? Of course, you would smash a hot coffee pot in Thug 1's face, take his gun, and then shoot both of them.
The media goes crazy and Tom is an instant hero.
I'm not who you think I am
The movie goes from interesting to fascinating when three mobsters from Philadelphia show-up at the dinner a week later. They start referring to Tom as "Jake" and claim they knew him.
The movie turns into a suspenseful thriller as everyone attempts to figure out just who the hell Tom really is. By this point the film had drawn me in completely and I was hooked.
Viggo Mortensen puts on a great performance along with the rest of the cast. The list of different characters is short, but diverse including the small-town guy, the confused family, the simple sheriff, and the mobsters. When you leave the movie, you remember the different characters, even the ones that had a two-minute role.
Quick and shocking
A History of Violence has an interesting technique. Most violent movies have a steady stream of violence spread throughout the film. Occasionally the violence will go over the top in an attempt to shock the audience, but the shock effect usually isn't strong. When the audience knows violence is coming, they can be somewhat prepared for it whether it is mild or extremely graphic.
This film has a steady stream of non-violence and then suddenly jumps into a few short seconds of extreme brutality. After watching the characters of a quiet town slowly develop, I just wasn't ready for what happened in the diner.
The quick filming techniques used in the scenes of violence and sex drive this movie forward and prevent it from feeling slow even with all of the character development scenes. This coupled with a compelling story, make A History of Violence one hell of a unique film. So much so that I haven't stopped reflecting on it all week.
Related links:
A History of Violence official site
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