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"Violence" offers more than action |
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Written by NED O'REILLY
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Friday, 30 September 2005 |
With a different title, this film could sneak up on a viewer, yet the ominous title so captures the central thrust of the story that it’s almost a character itself. Acclaimed horror meister David Cronenberg masterfully directs this story of a small town family whose lives are changed when dad Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) foils a robbery in the diner he runs. The publicity generated by the incident attracts a mysterious figure named Fogarty and his henchman and then the title really starts to matter.
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"A History of Violence"
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 Entertainment
Art
Directed by David Cronenberg
Screenplay by Josh Olson
From the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and Ed Harris
Rated R for violence and sexuality
Released September 30, 2005
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Cronenberg begins the film with the two thieves who will later show up in the diner committing a heinous multiple murder as though they’re fixing a sandwich. These men are frighteningly calm, but you have to put that in your pocket while you watch the Millbrook, Indiana life of the Stalls unfold. Tom and his wife Edie (Maria Bello) are madly in love, even a decade and a half into marriage. Son Jack (Ashton Holmes) has bully issues at school, but deflects them with humor and self-effacement. Daughter Sarah (Heidi Hayes) dreams about monsters, but the entire family comes to her bedside to comfort her. The director shows us a solid family, working on whatever everyday problems come up.Then the attempted robbery happens and the violence we put in our pockets jumps back out. Tom reacts lightning fast and decisively, killing both criminals before they can harm any of the four other people in the restaurant. The locals consider him a hero, as does the national media. When Fogarty shows up, we begin to wonder what Tom might have been in a past life. Now the earlier scene in which Edie seduces her husband, saying “We never got to be teenagers together,” takes on a more ominous tone. To reveal much more would be to spoil a number of highly effective surprises, but I can say that teenager Jack’s responses are among the most telling. While the criminal and violence elements are critical and Cronenberg, Mortensen, and Harris (as well as William Hurt, in a last act appearance as Tom’s long lost brother) handle them well, I cannot emphasize enough that the film’s most important themes are the study of the meaning of family and especially what constitutes a true and lasting marriage. Harris and Hurt will get raves for their supporting roles, but the most thorough and effective acting here is delivered by Mortensen and Bello. Even amid growing doubts that she really knows her husband, Edie does not back down, delivering multi-layered responses at critical moments. While the first act seduction tells us a lot, it pales in comparison to the scene on the stairs later. Rarely is sex used so well as a storytelling device. You’ll be hard-pressed to recognize Mortensen as the same guy who played Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings films, except for the eyes – which Cronenberg wisely features in shot after shot. But it’s the hospital scene where he reveals his secret to his wife that is the most devastating – and the most Oscar worthy. This is an adult film that has plenty to say to maturing high school and college age kids who question why their parents do the things they do. There is plenty of suspense and macho swagger to please action flick fans, too. And the final, dialogue-free scene ought to be enough to earn Mr. Cronenberg a statuette. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
