Saturday, January 28, 2006

A History of Violence

I finally saw A History of Violence.
I loved this movie.
The movie is extrememly violent but none of the violence is gratuitous. Every punch and shot, grab, pull, push, shove, slap, kick, and stab was necessary for the messsage of the film whether David Cronenberg intended that message or not.
The movie essentially shows that whatever you do in your life, your past, or present has consequences both good or bad. Even if you have redeemed yourself and try to turn away from your past, those consequences may very well follow.

The violence as I said before is very in your face.
The emotional impact on the characters and the audience watching the movie is raw. Certain bits made me want to cry and of course it's all very shocking.
The intersting in the audience watching the movie is how used to graphic violence some people are. Men giggled and whooped and hollered and clapped, because of the excitement of it all. Nary a nervous giggle presented itself.
It is what you may expect given what we are exposed to in the Media. If you try to look past that to the deeper issues like the flicking of the switch once your former lifestyle gets thrown back into your face, and there is no way to avoid it but dealing with it head on. The question remains: Will you give in?
Or will you remember that you are indeed redeemed, you are a new person, with new ways of interacting with others and dealing with life's pressures and find a different solution?
Do we ever really have a choice in the matter?
Or did you really change? Or was the 'lack of opportunity' to sin your main deterrent?

Love this movie. Will buy the DVD.
Hugs
M

3 comments:

Panner said...

Too bad I passed out during it.... LITERALLY.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you were a little bit gone, on that one....

Anonymous said...

Great insight to the movie. One interesting aspect is whether the main character, Tom Stall, is truly converted from a life of violence. When all is revealed to the wife, I love her expression, "Stall....where did that come from? Did you make it up" Tom: "It was available" As if the magnitude of the deception was well beyond his comprehension because he was too vested in trying to move past his past regardless of the level of the deception. Vigo Mortenson is a modern day Clint Eastwood. His presence on the screen is powerful and captivating. His looks denote a hint of something dark, or secretive. There's an air of mystery with the characters he portrays in films as if you never are quite sure what he is going to do. I loved this film. Of course, Ed Harris will not get the recognition he so deserves, but nonetheless heightens the film's drama and uncertainty. One of my top ten favorite films of all time.

Mark D.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.