It would be easy to fall into the trap of reducing A History Of Violence to a debate about violence in America, but Viggo Mortensen won't hear of it.

That is because he believes that the stylized way David Cronenberg depicts the violence in his searing drama elevates the film beyond a Hollywood genre piece which takes the debate about cinema violence into a different realm.

"So I don't think this movie is necessarily about the United States or even about violence per se," Mortensen says. He adds that A History Of Violence would have suffered "in the hands of a less gifted and intelligent filmmaker" because other directors would have cheapened the material.

"They would have made a mountain out of the violence and you would have had a movie that you wouldn't have thought about for very long afterward. At the time, it might have been gratifying, if you like that sort of thing.

"But (Cronenberg) wanted to do something that was the right thing to do, which was to show it like real violence, which happens quickly, often unexpectedly, and has immediate consequences. And it is also long-lasting, not only physically but emotionally. It is not pleasant to look at and it is not pleasant to be a part of, I think."

His character in A History Of Violence is compelled to action when two thugs threaten and start to brutalize customers in his diner in a small American town. Mortensen spontaneously takes action and kills the two thugs. He becomes a reluctant town hero, ashamed that he would be celebrated for a tragedy.

"It does say that violence exists," Mortensen says of the film, "and that it is kind of futile to pretend that it doesn't.

"But it also says that we do have free will, that you can question your own actions and change the way that you behave as a human being."