MOVIE REVIEW: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

From the reviews that I have read about this movie it seems that people either love it or hate it with very little in between. I must say that after viewing the film I am definitely in the loved it catergory. One of the major complaints is that the movie is slow developing. Sometimes, it is refreshingly nice to see a movie that develops slowly over the typical hollywood action fare which I think after reading reviews of those who hated the film, that is what they were expecting. The movie does move along at a slow pace but there is enough going on that it keeps your attention, I did not find myself zoning out thinking about other things as I often do when watching movies, instead I was focused on the screen the entire time. My biggest complaint about the movie was the sexual scenes that could have been toned down a little in my opinion but when you think of a movie about violence, the explicit sex scenes do tie in well. I was disturbed to see a 8 year old child walking out of the theater when the movie ended as the film is definitely not for children. My one other desire for the film would have been that the character of the son was looked at just a little closer, it was an interesting role that just kind of got lost and forgotten after the shotgun scene. Many people I am sure disliked the ending of the film, as Americans I think we are taught that movies must resolve themselves in the end, which this film clearly did not. Many people in the theater were clearly upset at the ending of this film because it was no where near resolving itself when it suddenly ends when Viggo Mortenson returns home from Philadelphia and quietly joins his family at the dinner table, with his daughter giving him a plate a son passing him food and his wife praying, yet no dialogue which I think is what bothered most people. In all, I thought the film was great but obviously it is not for everyone.