# A History of Violence \*spoilers\*

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-of-violence-spoilers/603501>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 20, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-of-violence-spoilers/603501 "2011-11-20T00:12:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-of-violence-spoilers/603501/21 "2011-11-22T00:14:22Z")

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> [@UncleRojelio](#):
>
> That is a whoosh right?

I don’t watch much TV. In fact I don’t watch _any_ TV apart from the news, I use my television for watching movies I’ve bought on DVD and that’s about it.

And apparently it wasn’t on Capitaine Zombie’s radar either.

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**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-of-violence-spoilers/603501/22 "2011-11-22T11:09:25Z")

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Haven’t seen it for ages but I recall one of the themes being quite interesting; the notion that ‘trouble’ is always shown in US cinema to come from outside - for example, riding into town. In this film it comes from within, like it’s part of the person (or society) itself.

At the time I remember thinking it was a very strong film with clear ambitions. Should see it again, really …

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**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-of-violence-spoilers/603501/23 "2011-11-22T12:02:34Z")

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> [@phreesh](#):
>
> I agree with the OP’s assessment. I also felt like it was two movies. One with a reluctant hero and one with a cold-blooded assassin taking care of business.
> 
> I’ve seen the second movie a bazillion times. I haven’t seen the first one very often and would have liked to have seen more.

To me that was the whole point. The reluctant hero literally turned out to have a history of violence and the events of the first part of the film lead inexorably to his past actions catching up with him. The posters that feel there are two different movies here are reflecting the fact that this guy is two different men, the ruthless killer of the past and the peaceable family man of the present.

The key questions it left with me, and I’m sure Cronenberg intended this, were firstly, can the man of violence be laid to rest again now that he has so dramatically been brought back to the surface, and secondly, which of these diametrically opposed traits will prove dominant in the son?

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