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Laramie Movie Scope:
A History of Violence

The aggression of the alpha male

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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November 1, 2005 -- “A History of Violence” displays once again director David Cronenberg's fondness for those staples of the Hollywood “R” rated movie, sex, violence and nauseating images. It is less an exploration of violence in America and more of a portrayal of a prototypical alpha male. The alpha male, the same in wolves as in humans, establishes dominance though sexual and physical aggression. Mike Tyson, for instance would be a good example of an alpha male, the very flower of humanity.

In this story, Viggo Mortenson (“Lord of the Rings”) plays the alpha male, Tom Stall, who leads a quiet life in a small town, operating a diner. One day a couple of hoods come in and try to hold up the place. Everyone is frightened when the hoods pull out guns and threaten to kill everyone in the place. Everyone, that is, but Tom Stall. He remains calm and eyes the man with the gun in his face as calmly as an exterminator would a cockroach. He's had a gun in his face before. He doesn't panic. He waits for his opportunity. When the gunman looks away for an instant, Tom hits the man with a coffee pot, grabs the gun and kills both intruders. Hailed as a hero, Tom gets unwanted attention from the media.

Soon, a large black car rolls into town, carrying menacing, hard-looking men. They say they know Tom Stall by a different name, Joey Cusack. They say they have a score to settle with him. They will not go away and are not afraid of the local police. Tom swears he's not Joey Cusack. His wife, Edie (Maria Bello of “Assault on Precinct 13”) and son, Jack (Ashton Holmes) begin to suspect that Tom has a violent past that he has kept secret from them. What follows are more violent deaths and violent sex, including what looks like a very uncomfortable coupling on a stairway, followed by a full-frontal nudity shot for the voyeurs in the audience. Jack sees how effectively his father solves problems by killing people and adopts violent action of his own to solve problems with home intruders and with a couple of school bullies who are riding him. He goes from being the school wimp to an alpha male with one violent incident, a chip off the old block.

Both wife and son must adapt to a husband and father neither of them knew, or did they? There must have been some hint of Tom's real nature that shown through his pretense. Everyone has a dark side. Some hide it from the world while others revel in it. Tom hid his dark side, but it is that side of him is what enables him to survive in a violent world. That side of him gives him strength. That side of him is also what his wife finds irresistible. Is violence something that Americans find irresistible? Is that why violent movies are popular? Is that why we go to war at the drop of a hat? Is that why we're so fond of our guns? The movie has little to say about these issues. It does speak volumes about the behavior of alpha males, however.

While the acting is uniformly good in the film, there are a lot of logical problems with the movie, like the usual law enforcement issues are ignored, as is often the case in Hollywood movies. How are a couple of thugs on a cross-country killing spree able to avoid notice? How is an unarmed man able to repeatedly defeat experienced armed killers who outnumber him four to one? This is typical of Hollywood movies about violence. The bad guys never shoot straight. Is this a sendup of Hollywood movies, or are we supposed to actually believe what we are seeing? In the end, the story does indicate there is a price to be paid for living a life of violence, but not much of a price. This movie reminded me of a quotation by famed anthropologist Margaret Mead. She said: “No society that feeds its children on tales of successful violence can expect them not to believe that violence in the end is rewarded.” This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2005 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)