A History of Violence

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A History of Violence is a 2005 American crime thriller film. The movie is an adaption of the novel, A History of Violence, written by John Wagner and Vince Locke. Tom Stall lives a casual, easygoing life as a local restaurant owner in the small, quaint, town of Millbrook, Indiana. Viewers are given the perspective that Tom lives the life of a family man, with a loving wife and two kids. Then the unthinkable happens when two robbers show up at Stall’s Diner and Tom defends his employees by killing the two-armed gunmen. After his heroics are publicized across the nation on national news, gangster Carl Fogarty visits Tom in Millbrook. Fogarty meets Tom and calls him out in front of his business and family for living a double life as a murderer. Tom’s real name is Joey Cusack, an Irish mobster who was once involved with gang membership in Philadelphia. When Fogarty confronts Tom and his family outside his home, Tom and his son shoot and kill all three gang members, including Fogarty. Tom stays at the local hospital to receive treatment for wounds he incurred while in a gunfight with the Irish mobsters. Tom confesses to his wife Edie while in the hospital. Tom states that he had lived as a mobster in Philadelphia, as he killed for both money and pleasure. When Tom is dismissed from the hospital, his personal life comes crashing down. He rapes his wife and abuses his teenage son. The repercussions of Tom’s actions will plague his family for the rest of their lives.
The victimization of intimate partner violence occurs when Edie tries to conceal the domestic problems within the relationship with her husband. Tom is unable to cope with the stress from the previous life he lived as Joey Cusack. Tom once lived his life as Cusack, an I...

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...ing within the Stall family.

Works Cited

Karmen, Andrew. Crime Victims: An Introduction to Victimology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
Langton, Lynn. Victimizations Not Reported to the Police, 2006-2010. Rep. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, 2012. Print. NCVS.
Mahoney, P., & Williams, L. (1998). Sexual assault in marriage: Prevalence, consequences, and treatment of wife rape. In J. Jasinski & L. Williams (Eds.), Partner violence: A comprehensive review of 20 years of research (pp. 6-11). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Rizzo, Tony. "At Least 14 Have Died in the KC Area from Domestic Violence."KansasCity.com. The Kansas City Star, 4 Dec. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
A History of Violence. Dir. David Cronenberg. Prod. Chris Bender. By Josh Olson. Perf. Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt, and Ed Harris. New Line Cinema, 2005.

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