The lead character and his attempts to live a different life in this movie is a huge reflection of what's going on in this entire country and takes on a big socially important issue that impacts the very nature of our society - from a criminal to a socially accepted citizen to a criminal and back again. Today and, in particular, in Utah, the number of convicted sex offenders have risen dramatically as well as other criminal felons now being paroled and sometimes released early due to the lack of space in our prisons.

"The History of Violence" deals with a very real and for some very scary proposition that exists today of our living in our own neighborhoods along side some serious criminals, some of whom like our lead role in this movie are attempting to live different lives while others are out their preying on their next victims. If we are to follow-up on the movie's overall conclusion as reflective of what might be, then one might be more optimistic about living among strangers, yet as can be seen at the end of the movie, it will not be easy nor a completely comfortable one.