Alone and Unobserved

I never thought Viggo Mortensen was right for the role of Aragorn. In the books, “Strider” is supposed to be an ominous figure whose physical appearance fills the hobbits with dread and fear, and whose dark words fill them with foreboding. Unfortunately, Mortensen’s Aragorn does nothing of the kind, and his thin, nasal voice is incapable of inspiring anything in me but an incredulous chuckle.
Fortunately for Mortensen’s continued employability, what was a liability in The Lord of the Rings is actually a strength in A History of Violence. Mortensen plays a mild-mannered, middle-aged, married man who owns and runs a diner on the main street of a small Indiana town. When two criminals on a killing spree stop by one night and pull guns, he reacts with brutal efficiency, wresting the gun from one man and killing both criminals with it, saving the lives of his clients and employees.
The movie tantalizes the audience with the question of who Tom really is, and how he learned to be so deadly. The true story is not in what is hidden, but what is shown: the consequences Tom’s actions have on his relationship with his wife, his children, and the community. Ultimately, the message of the movie seems to be that violence may at times be necessary–who would argue that Tom should not have acted in the diner?–but that such acts may trigger a vicious circle of escalating violence, in which each episode spawns another, and yet another.
I recommend this film very highly. For a deeper, better-informed review, visit www.ericdsnider.com.