A History of Violence

(Movie Review)

Yet another movie I thought was a bit over-hyped. I’m not sure what I expected to be honest. Being in Japan when this came out, I only heard tidbits about it and recommendations from friends.

It’s not a bad movie per se, but it does boarder on being pretentious, a trend which starts at the title. With a name like “A History of Violence” you expect some profound exposition on the nature of violence in society, and this movie doesn’t deliver. The notion of a former fighter forced into a situation where he has to resume his violent ways is far from a novel one. I could list several Westerns, spy movies, and comic books that have a similar plot, and I’m sure you could too.

The fact that the bad guys in this movie, from the over the top high school bully stereotype to the psychotic restaurant killers, are almost too bad to be believed helps to push this movie more into the category of escapist entertainment. (Then again, reading the news recently, I guess you should never underestimate the capacity for human evil.)

But still, the questions this film raises are almost cliché. “What would you do if someone threatened your family at gun point? Could you justify violence then?” I think most of us have been in several discussions about this hypothetical situation ever since middle school or before. I recall several religion classes and youth group discussions devoted to this hypothetical growing up. I suppose it’s a question that deserves consideration, even if it is a tired cliché, but this movie adds nothing to the debate.

On a slightly related note is Whisky Prajer's reflections on Kenny Roger's classic, "Coward of the County"
My exhausted love for it was sped-along by the argument I was to hear many, many times: "Oh, so you're Mennonite? Well, what would you do if someone came into your house and tried to rape your wife?" If you're going to attack Mennonite ideology, this particular strategy feels like the natural first move. You think we aren't ready for it? Go ahead and blast away! For your quick and inerrant wit, there is a very special reward: once you get the answer, you will be persuaded of many things, including the hard-scrabble wisdom of avoiding not just this particular tack, but the whole "dialogue" to begin with

Also Whisky Prajer's review of same film here.

Link of the Day
(From Phil's blog)
Tom Cahill, a former president of Stop Prisoner Rape, was arrested during the Vietnam War for civil disobedience. An ideologically unsympathetic jailer put him in a cell with known sexual predators, telling them he was a child molester, and that if they "took care of him" they'd get extra rations of jello. For the next twenty-four hours Tom was gang-raped. He has never fully recovered from this.

A History of Violence: Movie Review (Scripted)