nan | 楠木

It’s already 2006, and I’ve a lot of catching up to do in terms of 2005 films.
A History of Violence is such a film, and oh boy is it disturbingly luring. As the title suggests, this film revolves around violence, very brutal and graphic violence. Viggo Mortensen is the “hero” we are rooting for, but it soon turns out he’s not the simple honest man he claims to be.
The film is disturbing in the way it forces us to reevaluate just what violence stands for. You may have watched hundreds of action films, and claim yourself immune to film violence, but wait till you see the scenes in this film. Each increase in the body count sends a shockwave to your head.
The film can both be seen as an essay debating film violence and a story about identity. In the end these two points become soon intertwined you really could not separate them. Mortensen has a question of identity because of his violent past, and it is exactly the violence which makes the present more conflicting and chaotic.
9/10