A History of Violence

Directed by David Cronenberg (2005)

Cronenberg had left me a sensation of nauseating horror from "Videodrome" and "Crash". (I am just amazed that he also directed "M. Butterfly", which is quite different from his other works.) Just out of curiosity about how he described violence, I went to a theatre on a rainly Saturday afternoon.

The film begins with such a weary dialog between two murderers. The car slowly moves and so does the camera, then it reveals three murdered bodies uniquely. First is from the murderer's eyes when he entered the room, second is after his pushing an object in front of the camera, then the third is by taking a shot of a gun. This prelude, which could be an independent short movie, sets fire on this film.

Tom Stall(by Viggo Mortensen), who is a business owner of a small restaurant in a small town, has those two murderes in his restaurant and comes to kill them to protect others. This somewhat secretly reserved guy becomes a national hero and receives unwanted guests from an organized criminal group. According to them, Tom used be Joey Cusack and their brother. In spite of his apparent denial, it seems to be true and their conflicts are well expected, but how will they be resolved?

He says that it took three years to forget Joey and become Tom and he thought Joey had been dead. His wife avoids him, calling him Joey. Is it impossible to change one's identity? Can only one identity exist per person? How much do we owe to our past life to live as the one we like to be?

It might be very difficult to find any better title than "A History of Violence" for this film. I think of "The Passenger", where Jack Nicholson takes a chance to live as someone else and is destined to be killed. I feel exhausted.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Nice review now I don't have to watch the movie ;) I like Cronenberg's attack on social norms, almost a Lynchian fervor towards suburbia.
9:07 PM
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