A History of Violence (23 September 2005)
directed by David Cronenberg
starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes, Peter MacNeill, Stephen McHattie, Greg Bryk, Kyle Schmid, Samuela Kay, Gerry Quigley
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MPAA rating: Studio: New Line Cinema, Bender-Sprink Inc., Media I Script: Josh Olson Based on the book by: John Wagner, Vince Locke Music: Howard Shore Running time: 96 minutes Tags: Action; comic-book adaptation; Drama; mafia; murder; Pennsylvania; shotgun; Thriller Tactical strength: [6/10]
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for strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use
A History of Violence asks serious questions about the generational effects of violence, but fails to provide any solid answers to these questions. The film opens following a creepy pair of characters, Leland (Stephen McHattie) and Billy (Greg Bryk), as they "check out" of a motel. We suspect something bad has happened, and we know for sure when Billy goes back in to fill their water bottle -- the cashier and maid both lie dead in pools of blood. Later these two show up in Stall's diner. We have seen establishing shots showing mild-mannered Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) greeting and serving his customers in his small-town cafe. When Leland tries to hold up the cafe, Tom jumps into reflexive action. Tom smashes a glass coffee pot into Leland's face, grabs Leland's gun, and shoots both perpetrators.
The ability to shoot the perpetrators seemed a little out of character for a cafe owner, so I expected to learn that Tom served in the Marines. Instead, we learn that as a young man, Tom -- then known as Joey -- worked as a Philadelphia mafia hit man. For some reason, he decided to leave his violent past behind, created the identity of Tom Stall, and started his new passive life. Tom has a wife and two children that he now wants to protect from the violence of his past. Unfortunately, the publicity of the cafe shooting puts Tom's face in the national news, which draws old rival Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) and a pair of thugs to Tom's cafe.
With Tom's secret, History asks if a man can truly put a violent past aside and start a regular life with a regular wife and family. Really he just takes the action any father with Joey's skills would take -- eliminating the threats to his family and way of life. The film also asks about the generational effects of violence -- has Tom's son Jack (Ashton Holmes) inherited his father's violent nature. We see several scenes with Jack dealing with high school bully Bobby (Kyle Schmid). First Jack puts Bobby off with intellectual banter. After the cafe incident, Bobby continues to pester Jack, and Jack reacts with violence, beating up Bobby and breaking his nose and probably several ribs. We know Jack gets suspended from school, and later he saves his father by shooting Fogarty with a shotgun. The question about Jack's nature just gets left hanging with no attempt at resolution. The film had the intelligence to raise these questions but not enough intelligence to provide any answers. For me these unanswered questions lowers the score, but the excellent acting by Mortensen and Harris raises the score back up . . . a little.
--- S p o i l e r A l e r t ---
We already know that Tom has the ability to live a completely different life. We don't know if the recent violence will once again whet his appetite for violence. Can Tom set aside Joey's violence now that he as had a brief killing spree? The real unanswered question comes in the final scene. Tom comes back to his home after killing Ritchie (William Hurt) and his associated henchmen. He sits down at dinner and his children symbolically set his place and offer him a plate of food. The kids clearly want to include Tom in their lives, in spite of knowing his violent background. We don't know if Tom's wife Edie (Maria Bello) will make any similar concession. This whole final scene relies on the strength of the symbolic gestures from the children. Unfortunately, the symbols don't have the strength to carry the scene against the weight of the unanswered questions in the rest of the movie.
In the DVD special features, scriptwriter Josh Olson points out that the last line of the script reads, "And there was hope." Clearly Tom hopes to come home and resume his life as Tom Stall. Tom's children hope, too, that he will stay home, but Edie doesn't seem convinced that she can live with Tom. She has learned that he told her lies about his past and that he has a violent nature buried not too far beneath the surface. Edie has also seen three men killed in her front yard -- two by her husband, one by her son. For some reason, the script makes Edie a lawyer, so she may also have ethical issues about continuing to live with the knowledge of the crimes Joey has committed. Again, the film doesn't spend enough time developing Edie for us to believe that she will allow Tom back in her life. Once she learns the truth about Tom, she continually rejects him -- with the one exception of the brief "gangster sex" scene on the stairs of their home.
With all the unanswered questions, I think that director David Cronenberg could have effectively added additional scenes with concrete details that help resololve the philosophical questions. The ninety-six minute running time give enough time for developing Tom's violent nature, but an extra twenty minutes of story could have provided extra details that would have allowed us to agree with Olson's idea that these characters have hope.
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A History of Violence written by John Wagner
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