The End of Violence (1997)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Nicholas Klein (story) &
Wim Wenders (story) ...

Release Date:

12 September 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Nothing Lasts Forever

Plot:

Mike Max is a Hollywood producer who became powerful and rich thanks to brutal and bloody action films...

Plot Keywords:

Typewriter | Observatory | Lost Identity | Surveillance Camera | Film Making

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Traci Lind	...	Cat
Rosalind Chao	...	Claire
Bill Pullman	...	Mike Max
Andie MacDowell	...	Page
K. Todd Freeman	...	Six O One
Gabriel Byrne	...	Ray Bering
Chris Douridas	...	Technician
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Frank Cray
John Diehl	...	Lowell Lewis
Soledad St. Hilaire	...	Anita
Nicole Ari Parker	...	Ade (as Nicole Parker)
Daniel Benzali	...	Brice Phelps
Samuel Fuller	...	Louis Bering (as Sam Fuller)
Marshall Bell	...	Sheriff Call
Frederic Forrest	...	Ranger MacDermot

Also Known As:

Am Ende der Gewalt (Germany) (informal literal title)
Am.Ende.der.Gew@lt. (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

France | Germany | USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | DTS

Certification:

Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L | Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hungary:14 | Mexico:B | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

CiBy 2000

Trivia:

There is a scene in the film where we see a live recreation of the painting "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Page is holding Mike at gunpoint she holds the gun upward with the bottom of the handle facing outward and the ammo clip is clearly missing. Yet when Mike exits through the patio door she fires the gun and shatters the glass.

Quotes:

Mike Max: Perversely. That's one thing I think I can define now. It's when things are upside down and you start to like 'em that way.

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Soundtrack:

(Untitled) Heavy Beat Part 1 & 2

Such beauty...!

This is an astounding movie, and as others have noted, it is precisely the kind of movie that passes most people by because it rocks so gently as to be almost imperceptible.

The first time I saw this, I was disappointed. 'Until the End of the World', to me, is a brilliant piece of work, with more beauty, reverie, and complexity than any ten average films put together.

So...I was ready for some heady stuff with 'End'. But the movie seemed to be lost, missing in action.

But six months later I watched it on video, and I realized I was looking at an entirely different movie.

Then I watched it again...and again, and again, until I'd seen the thing ten times, including one where I only listened to the film, to see if I was simply addicted to Wim's luminous visuals.

What you realize is that this film is cooking up some very threatening ideas about the quality and nature of love, and the companion six degrees of violence and hatred. It is really about the way in which fear and love pulse in contrary and similar ways, much like particle and wave, dancing together.

It's also a fantastic critique the "confederacy of dunces" and the manner in which we manufacture enemies to suit our paranoia.

I must say that there are few directors that move me as much as Wim Wenders, and I have to confess that I have cried many times over the beauty and grace of some of the scenes and visuals in this movie. Much like Robert Altman or Atom Egoyan, Wenders cares about people, believes in their struggles, and he creates tension that moves them, at least temporarily, to understand their natures more fully.

A masterpiece, if a masterpiece means your heart moves even slightly...

PS Ry Cooder's soundtrack is brilliant!