A History of Violence

Twenty years ago, The Fly blew me away. Ask anybody. It's one of the movies that made me want to make movies. Twenty years later, and my second viewing of A History of Violence, it's nice to know that I can still have my bowels rocked by a movie. A History of Violence is less about violence and more about violent movies. I swear by this, despite the comments of the film's writer, Josh Olson, during Q&A tonight. He believes the film is about people's secret identities. What Cronenberg has slipped in though is a satire of a violent culture: movies. Cronenberg exploits the notion that movies glorify violence and has us secretly cheering, for example, when the son kicks the bully's ass at school or Viggo pushes a guy's nose into his brain. Then, while we're still soaking in the son's victory, Viggo berates the son for solving his problems with violence then smacks the kid across the mouth for good measure. This perfect storm of conflicted feelings is exactly what all the film school geeks aspire to achieve; but few ever will. It's Cronenberg's sophisticated understanding of these conflicted sentiments and the film grammar that can display them that makes him a guy who can smack me across the face any time he wants.