|
 A
HISTORY
OF
VIOLENCE
With
Viggo
Mortensen,
Ed
Harris,
William
Hurt
Directed
by
David
Cronenberg
At
first
glance
one
feels
as
though
this
Cronenberg
film
is
a
serious
departure
from
his
underlying
themes
of
biological
reconstruction
and
his
own
"body
horror"
genre.
But
on
closer
inspection
it
is
in
fact
there.
Based
on
a
graphic
novel
as
opposed
to
spawned
from
Cronenberg's
brilliant
brain,
Mortensen
plays
a
small
town
coffee
shop
owner
who
thwarts
two
killers
trying
to
rob
them
by
shooting
both
with
their
own
guns.
He
becomes
a
hero
and
is
splashed
all
over
the
news.
Soon
after,
a
big
city
gangster
arrives
alleging
he's
someone
he's
not.
The
harassment
becomes
life
threatening
and
results
in
death.
The
question
whether
he
really
is
the
regular
guy
or
the
ruthless
killer
trying
to
live
a
new
life
also
becomes
a
serious
issue
with
his
wife
and
kids.
Other
questions
of
instinct,
biological
predisposition,
genetic
hereditary
traits,
truth,
denial,
mistaken
identity
and
self-preservation
all
get
funneled
into
this
tensely
wound
powder
keg.
In
the
light
of
living
organisms
in
an
ecosystem
affecting
others,
changing
events
and
courses
with
actions
that
are
irreversible,
it
is
a
fascinating
study
of
the
possibility
/
impossibility
of
a
human
being
to
alter
his
identity,
erasing
another
and
totally
morphing
into
a
new
mode
that
becomes
his
reality.
Or
is
it
all
just
one
big
mistake
with
grave
consequences?
A
far
cry
from
early
gory
Cronenberg
classics
like
Shivers
and
Scanners,
but
still
proof
that
he
is
the
best
director
Canada
has
spawned.
5
/
B
-
PB
1
2
3
4
5
6
A
-
B
-
C
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