User blog:Kookosbanaani/PE proposal: Leland Jones and Billy Orser (A History of Violence)

So I'm about to proposal these two from David Cronenberg's film A History of Violence, based on a graphic novel of the same name. Meet Leland Jones and Billy Orser.

THIS PROPOSAL CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE FILM

Who are they?
Leland and Billy are a duo of sadistic, psychopathic, low-functioning low-life serials killers and thieves on a cross-country killing spree. Leland is the older, gaunt man in a cheap suit, while Billy is the young blonde guy in his early-30s or so. They are relatively minor villains the film but make a rather awfully memorable impression.

What have they done?
In case no one is against this, I'm just going to copy-paste their biography here from the page itself. I myself just wrote it at heart a few minutes ago, so I don't see any reason to write it again.

Leland and Billy are first introduced in the opening of the film, when they are about to depart from a secluded motel early on in the morning, where they were resting the previous night. Leland suggests Billy that they should keep heading east and avoid big cities in order to avoid legal trouble. Leland goes back inside and checks both of the out of the motel. Back in the car, Leland notices that they are running out of water and sends Billy back inside to fetch some. Inside, it is revealed that both Leland and Billy have murdered the entire staff of the motel service and robbed their cash register. Suddenly, a little girl comes outside from the back room, weeping. Billy calms her down, only to grab her pistol and murder her as well.

Later, both Leland and Billy come across the town of Millbrook, Indiana, where the film takes place. Already nighttime, they decide to head to the local diner, run by Tom Stall. Tom informs both Leland and Billy that they are about to close. Leland acts initially friendly, but starts showing increasingly hostile and aggressive behavior towards Tom when the latter refuses to serve him some coffee. Tom eventually pours them some coffee and when one of the waitresses is about to leave, Billy suddenly and violently grabs her and shoves her on a chair while ordering her not to move, groping her and overall, making sexually deprived advances towards her.

Tom informs Leland that they can have everything in the cash register, even though it doesn't mount to much. Leland tells that he already knows it, before pulling a pistol and taking everyone hostage, with the intention on killing them all. He then furiously orders Billy to rape the waitress, just to "show this asshole we mean business". When Billy is about to make his move, Tom then disarms Leland by smashing the coffee pan over his head. Billy pulls out his weapon and is about to shoot Tom, but Tom takes Leland's handgun and kills Billy with surprising skill and precision. Leland takes out a knife and stabs Tom in the foot, so Tom shoots him as well. This makes Tom a local hero of the town and a celebrity, which starts off the main plot of the movie, when Carl Fogarty, a hardened gangster from Philadelphia arrives at town with an intent on taking revenge against Tom, who is eventually revealed to have been Joey Cusack in earlier life, a particularly violent and ruthless hitman.

Freudian Excuse/Mitigating Factors?
None at all. They are just two scumbags killing and/or raping everyone they come across and stealing their money for benefit. When they first enter the diner, Leland accidentally stumbles upon an elderly man who was just about to leave, but Leland just shrugs it off and gives the man a gentle tap on a shoulder. He only did this because both he and Billy didn't want to stir any trouble "just yet" and wanted to have a cup of coffee before starting their usual killing routine.

They don't have any care for each other either and simply team up due to their similarly depraved minds and are killed off almost simultaneously.

Heinous Standard
Since this a Cronenberg film, which are (in)famous for their graphic violence, one would have the first impression that the heinous standard of the setting is exceptionally high. This is not the case however, as both Leland and Billy stand out tremendously despite being such minor villains with a total of four minutes of screentime.

Carl Fogarty, one of the main antagonists, is lamented as a ruthless mobster but all he wants is to get back at Tom/Joey (who was appropriately nicknamed as "Crazy Fuckin' Joey" by the other ruthless hardened gangsters who even they were afraid of) for horrifically disfiguring his face. He uses some intimidation tactics against Tom's wife and young daughter but never does anything to them. Eventually, he comes across Tom's son who ran out of home, kidnaps him and brings him back at Tom's house in exchange for Tom to come with them back to Philly. Tom gets closer to them and Carl keeps his word, releasing Tom's son and is about to take Tom to his car when Tom suddenly turns tables against Carl and his men. After killing his men, Carl is about to shoot Tom/Joey before being suddenly killed by Tom's son.

Now, the main protagonist, Tom/Joey himself? It's made clear that he was a particularly vicious and brutal hitman in previous life, but his most heinous act is that he once Carl in his left eye, when he tried to rip it off with barbed wire, horrifically disfiguring his face in the process. Tom/Joey has multiple kills in the movie and uses several brutal and efficient tactics which includes crushing windpipes among others. And even when Tom's Joey persona is taking control and he is shown to enjoy causing violence, he quickly pulls himself back together multiple times and is shown to regret for bringing himself and his family such trouble. He only kills whenever he needs to, in order to protect him and his loved ones.

Richie Cusack, the other main antagonist and Joey's big brother, calls Joey once he manages to eliminate Carl and suggests that he should come back to Philly or he will come to Indiana instead. Joey does so and Richie reveals that he tried to strangle young Joey in his crib when their mother brought him back from a hospital before having one of his men attempt to strangle him to death, just to "save face", since Joey brought him a lot of trouble when working for him as a hitman of the family. Joey even tries to negotiate with Richie and generally wants to have a more peaceful solution but, unfortunately, has to resort to violence all over again.

Now, Leland and Billy stand out enormously when compared to the previous ones. They have multiple counts of murder, multiple attempts of murder, one child murder, attempted rape, kidnapping and several counts of robbery.

Final Verdict
The overall theme of the movie is that violence, even when it's absolutely necessary, will always be ugly and will always affect those who commit in a negative, corrupting way. Tom/Joey is a prime example of this who wanted to start anew with a family and new identity, just to escape his former violent life. This doesn't really amount to Leland and Billy however, as their role characters show how depraved human can be and mostly just serve as plot device to start off the real plot of the film.

So, easy "yes" from me.