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Review

As the day starts somewhere in the American heartland, two men prepare to head back out on the road. They’re grungy and somnambulant, and seem unhappy with their lives. One of them goes back to the motel office for water for the car, walking past the slaughtered maid and manager with barely a sidelong glance. As he helps himself to water, a small child comes out of a back room. The young boy seems to sense that he’s about to die; he’s murdered without thought, without reflection. The two predators travel at will, knowing by experience that most people will just freeze when confronting the instrument of their death. But they make a mistake when they enter Tom Stall’s diner at the end of a business day, looking for some quick cash and bloodletting. They realize too late that they are now the prey, as the caring, loving, laid back family man turns into a creative killing machine, dispatching the two butchers with efficient speed. As more and more unsolved crimes are laid at the feet of the two murderers, Tom (Mortensen) becomes nationally known. His notoriety brings unwelcome visitors from the East, who know him by another name, who recognize him in this recent act of superbly orchestrated violence. One of them, Carl Fogarty (Harris), still bears a raw reminder of Stall’s earlier persona. Stall’s wife and children become pawns in the battle of wills between the head of their family and Fogarty. Initially positive that Fogarty has made a mistake, their assurance dwindles as hitherto unseen facets of Stall’s identity become visible, shaking the very foundations of the life they took for granted. Director Cronenberg has fashioned a disturbing meditation on the vicious cruelty which swims just below the surface of every human soul, at once addictive and repugnant, seductive and reprehensible. Cronenberg brilliantly taps into Mortensen’s ability to convey atavistic frenzy, not fully utilized since Indian Runner, eliciting a performance reminiscent of the director’s work with Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers. A History of Violence examines the fundamental qualities which rule all human history; the film stays with the viewer for a long time.

 -- Ann Yarabinee