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Sins of the Father
Let me first confess
my sins: Insane movie buff that I am, A
History of Violence is my first David Cronenberg
film. I've never seen Crash because I
wanted to read the book first (it's on my shelf,
waiting), I've never seen The Fly, I've never
seen Dead Ringers. I really wanted to see
Spider, but never got to it. Naked Lunch
is a classic I've never picked up. I've always
wanted to see all these films, but it just kinda never
happened.
This morning, after
teaching my two morning classes, on three hours sleep
from work the night before, I went by myself at 12:10 to
theater and watched A History of Violence.
Damn.
I have a feeling that
very shortly I will have rectified my life and gotten
absolved my sins, since I will be doing a Cronenberg
rental marathon.
A History of Violence
is not an action movie, so don't be fooled by the title,
which, while extremely well-placed, may fool the less
observant flick-fan. The film is quiet,
slowly-paced, and brooding. It moves along at
small town speed until that small town speed seems too
slow to hold it, until the film seems about to burst,
desperately needing train-wreck, big-city speed, but
Cronenberg just won't let it. The small town speed
must win or the hero is lost.
And what a hero he is.
Without going into plot details you're better off not
knowing, know that Viggo Mortensen (both the Strider in
LOTR and the Devil in Prophecy) plays a
demanding role with complete simplicity managing to fit
a whole lot of character into a little bit of man.
There of course isn't a whole lot that's little about
Tom Stall, but it must appear that way, not only for
secrecy but also for Tom himself. Mortensen
manages to control himself through the entire speed,
even with Howard Shore's terrific score egging on
explosion (quietly), in sequences of a plot that lesser
actors would be loathe not to spill into complete
hamming for. He plays his character like a man
squeezing a trigger so tightly it would seem to trip at
any moment if not for the man's utter discipline.
And then there's the
violence. When there is violence it is not action
movie violence, just like when there is sex, it is not
Hollywood sex. Everything in the movie is raw and
realistic, bits off bodies spraying off and out of
people and staying where they land. Sweatshirts
show chunks of flesh and entrails, jaws come off and
skin quivers. This is not light, fun, bloodshed.
This is dead serious, and it needs to be.
Again, I return to the
word brooding. The film indeed does this.
It's the story of sin and forgiveness. But not
whether a person can be forgiven for his own sins, but
rather whether his descendants can ever live separate
from them. And does a man deserve to ever leave
behind an evil life, or should he eternally be pulled
back, like a man trapped in the circles of Dante's Hell?
Are certain crimes so vile no one should ever be
forgiven, or allowed to walk away? Are second
chances only for those who don't truly cross the line?
And can a man ever cross back, or is the evil always
there?
The film ends
wonderfully, suddenly and yet not suddenly, with some
things resolved and some things far from resolved.
The script is scant, but when there are words the mean a
whole lot. The acting is incredible, Ed Harris
again proving his incredible skills never die and never
blur together. I must admit that I, like my
father, was a bit worried this performance would
resemble his State of Grace performance (a seminal one),
but it does not. Harris' character is a different
man, at a different time, with a different way of
thinking. He's just as terrifying, if not more so,
but, like everything else in this film, in a completely
controlled way... even more terrifying. The scene
between him and the wonderful Maria Bello is chilling,
with innocence's oblivion puntuatiing every word, the
little daughter still interested in toys behind the two
adults.
The sex scenes are
incredibly important, so much character exposition
accomplished with just gestures, movements and behavior.
The script knows what information needs to be given
when, if at all, trusts the viewer and gives us time and
the right information to come to our own conclusions.
The credits roll and demand we discuss it with the
person next to us. Different conclusions will be
drawn, and I wish I hadn't seen it at all.
Spoiler Alert!
Violence, and then some.
by Joe De Matteo
Solid
Cronenberg does a super direction job in the graphic
novel adaptation. Mr. Cronenberg did not make
another Sin City, far from it. This is a film more
akin to a 40s and 50s suspense tale, maybe with Fred
McMurry, or someone like that. |
