In the Valley of Elah (2007) User Reviews

In Search Of The Truth

[Lechuguilla · 8/10 · 4 November 2009]

A gung-ho ex military man gets word that his son, a soldier in Iraq, has gone AWOL. The film's plot follows the father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, as he sets about trying to find out what happened. Most of the characters here are either military people or local cops.

The story is heavy on mystery and investigation. The father's research skills are more potent than those of some local cops. Subtle plot twists and red herrings throughout keep the story's outcome uncertain until the end.

Based very loosely on a real-life event in 2003, the film's back-story pertains to the war in Iraq. Because of the controversial nature of this war, some viewers will read into the film a nefarious political agenda, dismissing it as propaganda. In point of fact, the motivation that led to the real-life event is, to this day, still shrouded in mystery.

Production values are generally high. The film has terrific, detailed production design. Sound quality is near perfect, which, when combined with the absence of background music in some scenes, enhances a sense of realism. Film editing is reasonably good, though a number of scenes could have been edited out, as they are either unnecessary or a tad confusing. If one is not privy to the film's point of view, the ending is slightly ambiguous, especially with regard to motivations of certain characters. An added line or two of dialogue could have added clarification.

Acting is wonderful. Tommy Lee Jones, with his weather-beaten face, is convincing as a tough, patriotic American military dad. Charlize Theron is satisfying as a frustrated local cop. Even minor roles are well cast. Kathy Lamkin, in a small role, couldn't be any more realistic as the impersonal, haggard manager of a fast-food restaurant.

I found "In The Valley Of Elah" entertaining as a mystery. The terrific casting and acting, along with high production values, render a film that is both realistic and highly believable.

War as Parable - IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH

[seaview1 · 8/10 · 21 September 2007]

'War is hell' but perhaps it is the postwar that is most telling. At least that is the thesis of Paul Haggis' latest film, In the Valley of Elah, a story of a father's quest for his son that reveals some bitter truths about war. Not an easy film to swallow upfront, it is certainly one of the best films of the year.

A grizzled, former military policeman, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), is notified that his son, Mike, is AWOL after returning from the fighting in Iraq. What begins as a methodical search for his son's whereabouts becomes more tragic and clashes with local police and military brass. Where is his son, and what do his soldier buddies know about one fateful night near their base? And what if anything did happen to him in Iraq? These questions are answered in small pieces and with alarming implications. Hank's skills at police work help convince local Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) to take charge of the case despite the doubts of her own colleagues and the military, led by investigator Lt. Kirklander (Jason Patric). Mike's PDA has garbled video that begins to paint a disturbing picture of the war front. Hank's search takes an emotional toll on himself and his wife (Susan Sarandon). He and Emily form an uneasy alliance, and, amid theories and suspects, what emerges is an ominous portrait of war veterans on the homefront. Ultimately Hank comes face to face with a disarming truth about his son's fate and the possible involvement of his military brethren.

The story is based on actual events in 2001 in Tennessee, and its title references the mythic tale of David and Goliath set at a time when the rules of engagement were different than the present. Its sparse, simplistic structure of a mystery peppered with flashback video and imagery may seem on surface like an independent film, but its message and execution is on a grander scale and not merely with dialogue. With effective visuals, much is conveyed by silence, expression, or simple body language.

As with other Haggis films, things that seem ordinary and insignificant at the beginning have implications later on. Though not as overtly obvious with connecting a myriad of dots as in his Oscar winner Crash, the threads are all there to gradually weave together. It is refreshing that the jurisdictional conflict between local police and the military does not take a stereotypic turn of heavy handed conspiracy and cover-up even though the military investigators are not cast in the best light. It shares a similar feel with the recent Courage Under Fire where the truth is unearthed in small bits until a bigger picture emerges. A couple of minor plot points go nowhere such as Hank meeting an old comrade who may have connections with military intelligence.

As grandiose and flamboyant as was his Oscar–winning turn in The Fugitive, Tommy Lee Jones' acting here is equally underplayed; he is magnificent. Through the pain and guilt that creep over his lined features, you also feel his suffering, his loss, and understand his bitterness. His Hank is a proud man, a patriot, who wants the truth. The truth ultimately changes him forever. Equally up to the challenge is Theron, in a strong performance, whose detective is a single mother who must battle her own squad and superiors while trying to solve a mystery. Even Sarandon's brief moments are affecting as the long distance wife. The rest of the cast is very good; they become real people.

This is not simply the readjustment to the homefront done magnificently in The Best Years of Our Lives or the heavy use of dramatic love triangle to condemn the Vietnam War in Coming Home. Rather, it takes the concept of a given war and allows it to become the ultimate villain in an increasingly sordid mystery. Its ending calls to mind The Deer Hunter but with a more pessimistic bent. It most certainly vilifies the effects of war on its men.

It is significant that a passing quote, "We all do stupid things," says something about not just the horror of warfare, but what such conflict does to its soldiers, and how they become soulless monsters capable of the most brutal of crimes. This is a brave, imperfect film that sets a somber tone and never lets up. The final image is a statement that makes this perhaps the subtlest of antiwar films ever. Oscar nominations can start here with picture, direction, screenplay, and the duo of Jones and Theron. While not everyone will be willing to let the story unfold with its nuanced direction and understated acting, those who are patient will find a moving tale of innocence lost and corrupted.

It's not about war, it's not about murder... it's about coping.

[fifty_mm · 8/10 · 14 September 2007]

The movie uniquely dealt with the mechanism of coping with traumatic experiences. True, it was a war pic. Yes, it had an additional "look what we're doing to our kids" anti-war message (which was driven home in the scene where he's finally leaving his son's barracks and this young, pimply faced kid starts settling in), and yes, it was a murder mystery, but the method in which Haggis portrays the different behaviors the characters exhibit while trying to deal with extremely stressful and traumatic experiences was the main point of the movie.

Haggis drove the point home with careful camera techniques and crafting true-to-life characters. I like the way he kept the camera back at the end of the hallway when Mrs. Deerfield cried into her husband's arms after viewing the mutilated body of her son. He employed a similar method when she broke down and started crying on the phone (Mr. Deerfield: "I'm not gonna sit on the phone and listen to you cry." Mrs. Deerfield: "Then don't") – Deakins has the camera up on the stairs looking directly down on her while she sits hunched over on the floor. It's not that Haggis is "hiding" these moments from the audience – I believe that it is more of a commentary on our disconnection from our own emotions during these moments.

Additionally, Haggis has the actors restrain themselves during the height of when one expects them to indicate the most suffering and when the camera is close enough to expose it, i.e. Mr. Deerfield seeing his mutilated son for the first time, also towards the end when he realizes that his own rigid personality alienated his son from himself and Cpl. Penning's almost robotic, non-remorseful confession of murdering Spc. Deerfield – which was a phenomenal performance – are two good examples. You could see the mountain of emotion being suppressed behind his cold exterior. His confession was so level that it was hard for me to accept the fact that he had stabbed Pfc. Deerfield over 42 times, dismembered his body, then set fire to it. But this is exactly the point Haggis was trying to make – this disconnection from reality; death as a video game with no consequences ("React or die. React or die.") By the way, I think Tommy Lee Jones did an amazing job as well. And that's an understatement.

Further exposés on the aspects of coping include the side story of the soldier who first held down his Doberman in the tub until it drowned and subsequently repeated that action with his wife instead. Spc. Bonner hanging himself for his involvement in the murder of Deerfield. Pvt. Ortiez's full denial of the fact that their squad ran over an Iraqi child ("That wasn't no kid. That was a dog. As far as I'm concerned, that was a dog. I don't know what that picture is."). More importantly, Spc. Deerfield's own methods of coping served to act as the catalyst for the plot. The one moment he had (and the only moment in the movie where tears are actually shown falling) where he tried to reach out to his father ("Dad, something happened. Can you get me out of here?"), he got snubbed. So his ability to cope manifested itself into destructive behavior: doing drugs, bad-mouthing the stripper, torturing the "Haji" militant, picking fights with his comrades – ultimately leading to his demise. All of these characters had their demons to deal with. The point of the movie was how to deal with those monsters. The title, itself, acting as a metaphor to that exact question. The Valley of Elah – where David took his stand against Goliath – was where all the characters of this movie stood in the shadows of their own Goliaths. Some fought (Mrs. Deerfield, Det. Sanders), some stuck their heads in the sand (Ortiez, Mr. Deerfield), and some ran away (Penning, Bonner). Much like the tagline states: sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it.

I also thought the movie was unique in the angle it took on war: its psychological impact. Excluding such crappy movies like, "Iron Eagles" and "Flight of the Intruder", good war movies have more than an "accomplishing-an-objective" plot type in mind. "Saving Private Ryan", although based entirely around an objective, used the multitude of horrors the characters encountered to highlight their methods of dealing with it. I'd say this movie was more along the lines of "Deer Hunter" or "Jarhead" – where what you see in war plays second fiddle to how you deal with what you see in war.

The only objection I had to the movie (a very moderate one) was originated by my girlfriend, who served in Iraq – I hadn't thought about it until she brought it up. True, the movie is a very small "slice of life" take on our involvement in Iraq (granted, PTSD is a MAJOR aspect of this war – but there are many other facets as well), so it's not entirely unjustified to have ALL the soldiers of this movie be so "f***ed up" from their wartime experiences. However, it would have been nice to see at least one soldier try to cope with his demons in a more constructive way – be it counseling or in some other non-destructive method. When I visited my girlfriend in Germany, during her leave, I came across pamphlets, brochures, and television commercials (on the Armed Services Network) that encouraged infantry men and women to seek counseling in helping deal with PTSD, acclimating to life in the states again, returning to their families, and so forth. Nevertheless, personally, I don't feel that this is too critical of a point to make – Haggis is trying to illustrate a specific notion of the effects of war and shouldn't have to cater to any of the "exceptions to the rule."

Quietly effective

[Tony43 · 24 September 2007]

The big movies about the Vietnam war -- Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket -- didn't reach the screen until about five years after the war ended. But movies dealing with Iraq and terrorism are cropping up all over even as this war still rages.

What exactly that means is hard to know, but it would seem to indicate that no matter which side of the issue they come down on, the filmmakers are willing to risk alienating about half the potential audience in an America more polarized today than at any point in our history.

"In the Valley of Elah" treads lightly on the politics for most of the movie, concentrating on the unfolding mystery of what happened to a young soldier who vanishes shortly after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. Looking for answers are his father, a former sergeant in the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, and a young female civilian detective, who gets involved in the case, gets bounced off in a jurisdictional dispute, but winds up back on the case when its determined the crime took place off military property.

While director Paul Haggis gets uniformly good performances out of all the characters, the movie belongs to Tommy Lee Jones as the grieving father and Charlize Theron as the determined detective. Both turn in outstanding performances. Jones shines, playing a man who has spent his life holding in his emotions and can't change now, even as his world falls apart. Theron radiates strength as a woman trying to survive in a sexist police department where all her male colleagues are certain she slept her way into her detective's job. That is somewhat important to the story, because the movie provides a look into the lower class white community that provides the bulk of the recruits in the all volunteer army.

None of this really deals with the politics of the war, though, and it is not until the very end of the film that politics come into play, and even there, it is handled with great care. The message is more about the kind of war America finds itself fighting today and what that type of combat does to the men who engage in it. Unlike world wars one and two, Vietnam and Iraq are not wars between easily recognized enemies. We are not battling the Germans or the Japanese. In both Nam and Iraq, Americans find it is difficult to tell friend from foe. That means they often must make snap decisions that sometimes determine whether they themselves live or die. Needless to say, their decisions also determine the fate of the people in the sights of their weapons..

"In the Valley of Elah" does an excellent job of showing that post traumatic stress syndrome is not an oddity, but rather a growing problem in an army of young men whose job requires them to be quick on the trigger.

Every American should see this movie and then think long and hard about it.

What war can do to young men

[Wuchakk · 7/10 · 5 February 2017]

Released in 2007 and directed & written by Paul Haggis, "In the Valley of Elah" is a crime drama/mystery inspired by the real-life case of Richard T. Davis. The story revolves around an elderly Tennessee couple (Tommy Lee Jones & Susan Sarandon) who get word that their son has gone missing from his base in New Mexico shortly after his return from Iraq. A retired military investigator, Hank Deerfield (Jones) goes to the base to find out the awful truth. Charlize Theron plays the civilian detective near the base who tries to help Hank while Jason Patric plays the Army counterpart. Josh Brolin is on hand as the town police chief.

This is a slow-burn mystery highlighted by great acting by the principles, especially Jones, and a thoroughly realistic story, which isn't surprising seeing as how it's based on true events. Speaking of which, I was surprised to find out that the basic details of the story are all accurate. The actual events took place in the Fort Benning area of Georgia rather than the fictitious Fort Rudd, NM.

The movie's not anti-Iraq War, but rather anti-PTSD; it merely reveals the awful truth about war in general: When we send our young men off to far-off lands where brutal warfare is normal they can bring that desensitized mentality back with them where the barbaric behavior that might be acceptable in war is anything but normal or conducive to a successful life, to say the least. Add the idiocy of alcohol abuse to the mix of PTSD and the results almost certainly WON'T be good.

The title refers to the valley where David, as a teen, fought and defeated the utterly intimidating Goliath from 1 Samuel 17.

ADDITIONAL ACTORS: James Franco, Wes Chatham, Jake McLaughlin, Mehcad Brooks and Roman Arabia play soldiers who knew Deerfield's son while Frances Fisher has a curious cameo (you'll know what I mean).

The film runs 121 minutes and was shot in Whiteville, Tennessee, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Morocco substituting for Iraq.

GRADE: B

Why do most critics attack this film for being heavy-handed?

[bpreston41-1 · 9/10 · 29 September 2007]

Only Roger Ebert and the reviewer for Rolling Stone seem to see the truth here: this film is slow and elegiac because it deals with heavy matters, but it is never boring, not if you understand the situation and the depth of feelings being explored. It's as if reviewers don't get it because they didn't really feel what the film is saying. Saying that there have been dozens of films about how war ruins men so it's a cliché, and that this one is too dreary and slow means that a person has stopped feeling for what is really hurtful, is even in denial. And that's the theme of this film: what happens when we lose touch with what's painful and don't care any more. The film is restrained but powerful, which is why it has such a strong effect.

Jones is wonderfully grim, with a face like a road map, as he explores what happened to his son. Charlize Theron is beautiful even though she is playing a woman who is forced to act as non-sexy as possible to get on in her job in a male police force. Susan Sarandon is not, as some critic said, "underused"; she gives a performance that is all the more powerful because it is restrained. This movie should be a must see for all who believe that the Iraq war should continue until there is an honorable time for America to leave. That time is already passed.

War Ruins Men

[Aglaope · 7/10 · 1 September 2015]

This movie deals with the serious business of war and what it does to people.

It also deals with the anguish of parents, and how they try to deal with loss. When all is gone and there seems no point carrying on.

As well as this there is the military and how it deals with its image and the fragility of the men it must use.

The ex military father tries to find the truth behind his sons death. Despite him feeling he could do a better job than the police. Even he is caught out by the truth.

The movie is slow, and serious, and even disturbing at times. However, it always keeps you interested, and is a good watch; if you are in the right mood for it.

Surprisingly Poetic and Not Very Political.

[Movie-Jay · 10/10 · 30 September 2007]

This movie is just about perfect. I love how it starts as a genre movie and then transcends into something deeper and soul-searching. Some people just don't like Paul Haggis, but I'm not one of them. I think he's very smart here; he has no political point of view, he handles Charlize Theron perfectly, and the movie forces everybody to think about the troops in a way that isn't simply political rhetoric. I love that Tommy Lee Jones feels the way so many dads do. He's never been better. Watching the police work happen is interesting on it's own, but I like that Charlize Theron is just out to do the job correctly and just shrugs off the chauvinism coming at her from her department. The movie could've gone somewhere with that, but instead just quietly lets us in on it and moves on.

There have been many very good movies the last few years about Iraq-related themes, but I don't think there is a film that captures the feeling of the national mood as good as this one. It's drained of melodrama and just sort of moves forward on really good performances of the whole cast, who all act according to their natures instead of because of stupid plot requirements.

Distress flag.

[AHOLDER-1 · 7/10 · 28 February 2018]

Sound: Just simple sound editing and sound track use here. 60/100

Technical: Nice use of cell phone video. Use of simple location sets. 70/100

Narrative: Standard crime investigation film. It moves a little slow and meticulous like a real investigation and Tommy Lee Jones' character does. Flows with logic then we get a twist at the end. 60/100

Character/Acting: Very well acted; Charlize Theron and Tommy Lee Jones draw a lot of sympathy and they both arc well; and in ways we do not anticipate. This is the strong point of the film. 90/100

Did I like it: Yes, my sympathies for the characters and the mystery solving kept my interest. 70/100

Artistic merit: There are better films that deal with the effects of war on soldiers and their families, but looking at these issues in a criminal investigation is a different approach. 70/100

Total score 70/100

In the Valley of Elah

[phantomtristan · 8/10 · 28 September 2007]

There have been many films about the aftermath of war, but never have I seen such a brutally honest and shocking depiction of the de-humanization of soldiers back from war. This is the underlying premise of the new crime thriller from academy award winning writer/director Paul Haggis (Crash).

Hank Deerfield (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is a retired veteran and military police officer searching for his son who has gone AWOL. A detective Emily Sanders (played by Charlize Theron) becomes interested in the case and starts helping Hank outside of her job. When Hank's son's body is found, the search suddenly turns into a search for the murderer.

One of the many aspects I appreciated was that director Haggis did not turn this into a typical Hollywood crime thriller and also not turn it into a political propaganda piece against the war and President Bush. Instead he mixes the two plots together seamless and subtle, letting you decide for your self.

Tommy Lee Jones gives the best performance of his long career as he plays a quiet, emotionless war vet, but still shows tremendous amount of emotion. Just watching his face as he sits in a diner and listens to one of his retired friends tell him about plans to go visit his grandchildren is heartbreaking. We can almost see the internal emotional struggle as he realizes he will never be able to do that. Charlize Theron does a wonderful job as the detective, and despite her small screen time Susan Surandon plays the grieving wife of Jones to perfection.

This film is such a moving masterpiece on so many levels it is simply wonderful to watch. The quiet pacing of the film building up to the climax is captivatingly intense in its own way. I am sure this will be a popular film at the Oscars this year, and if they gave out awards for best scene this would be sure to garner a nomination for a simple, poignant, yet profoundly moving scene when Frank tells the story of David and Goliath (which took place in the Valley of Elah) to the little son of detective Sanders.

Murderous Drums.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 13 November 2008]

Charlize Theron's agent has finally stopped shoveling her into heavily made-up and unglamorous roles like "Monster" and "The North". Here, she wears her dark hair short and severely pulled back with a kind of diminutive pony tail. Her features seem freshly washed, washed out even, plain and beautiful. And she must be keeping as fit as the ballerina she once was because she sprints a lot better than I do. (I'm more of a stroller.) Tommy Lee Jones is getting older and his face now resembles a relief map of Afghanistan. His hair line is creeping back towards his occiput, his ears are enormous, and the pouches under his eyes monumental. He looks great and has lost none of his acting skills.

Susan Sarandon has a relatively small role as the mother of a soldier whose chopped-up and barbecued remains have been found near his base in New Mexico. The son, Mike, recently returned from a year and a half in Iraq. Jones is the father, an ex career army man himself, who drives down from Tennessee to find out what happened, since neither the army nor the local police seem to have any clear idea.

It seems to be a genuine mystery, along the lines of "Courage Under Fire", "A Few Good Men," and "Friendly Fire," perhaps involving an army conspiracy to cover up unpleasant facts. And it's the uncovering and unraveling of this mystery that the bulk of the film is devoted to.

Yet, it both more than just a murder mystery -- and less. Theron, as the local detective in charge of the case, helps Jones track down the three or four men who may have been with Jones' son the night of his murder. There are hints of drug smuggling and Mexican gangs, but none of it turns out to be material.

I'm about to give away the ending here, so be careful.

Jones, a former sergeant in the MPs who has served in Vietnam, doesn't believe for a moment that his son was involved in smuggling OR that the men from his unit were involved in his son's murder. "You don't go into combat with a man, then come back and do THAT to him," he pronounces.

Well, the fact is -- that's precisely what happened. The four men got drunk at a strip bar and Mike turned truculent and abusive, and he stayed that way on the drive back to the base until one of the others, a nice-looking, well-spoken, sympatico kid, confesses that he found himself stabbing Mike repeatedly, over forty times in fact. One of the others had worked in a butcher shop and knew how to cut carcasses up. Then they tried and failed to burn the remains. There WAS no real motive, no drugs or anything, just the usual kind of brawl that young military men are liable to get into with each other.

The kid whose confession we see chuckles at the thought of the murder and says they didn't bury the remains because they were hungry and wanted to visit a fried chicken joint. "I'm really sorry for your loss," he tells Jones, and he seems to mean it, but he doesn't quite understand why the others don't quite understand.

That turns it into an indictment of an unpopular war. War brutalizes the people who participate in it, the winners as well as the losers. Okay, as far as it goes, though the proposition is debatable and certainly doesn't apply to all or most combat veterans, who are more likely to damage themselves than damage others.

But the Reveal also makes the rest of the movie -- about the unraveling of a traditional mystery involving motives -- tangential. Most of the movie is wasted on following a red herring. And there are times when a sanctimonious tone creeps into the film. Susan Sarandon insists on seeing her son's burned and disarticulated remains. (We've already been through this formulaic event before, with Jones.) "I'm very sorry for your loss, Ma'am," says the army's Criminal Investigation officer, and he means it. Sarandon has been looking into a refrigerated room and asks to enter the room to be with her son. "I'm afraid not, Ma'am. I'm sorry." Sarandon begins to leave, then turns around and says to the officer in an accusatory tone, "You don't have any children, do you?" The film is on her side. But what the hell is the officer supposed to do? Let her into the morgue so she can smell the burned flesh? How about if she wants to fondle the lopped off limbs? He's just doing his job and he clearly sympathizes with her. It's too easy a shot. There are in addition some emphatic layings on of the story of David and Goliath in the valley of Elah. If it's supposed to pump up the profundity quotient of the plot, it doesn't work because it has nothing to do with the plot. I'll just skip over the retro and rebarbative male-chauvinist-pigism.

The direction and performances are fine. But the script has some weaknesses, as if it either hadn't been thought through or -- worse -- HAD been deliberated over and a choice had been made to go with formulaic scenes, though the scenes themselves be as disarticulated as Mike's body. It's moving, of course, but it's cheap too. The last scene, accompanied by a melancholy score, should have been edited out.

Heartbreaking

[Michael Fargo · 9/10 · 15 September 2007]

There is a remarkable absence of polemic in this film which elevates it to something mythic...perhaps distills the subject matter to something we should face. No one should be able to fault the performances here, but I was most impressed with the director's careful avoidance of political point of view. It's the opposite of what, say, Costa-Garvas did with "Missing." There are no speeches or lectures, but watching illusions and faith in old systems being peeled away is very powerful. And very, very sad.

We need this film (whether we like it or not). Abu Ghraib happened. And not accepting the moral consequences leads us to a very troubling conclusion.

Tommy Lee Jones is amazing here. Susan Sarandon, in a small part, makes a vivid presence. Charlize Theron seems miscast (would a woman this beautiful and smart be in this job?), but she adds another fine character to her work.

While there is a very interesting texture to the film, that is, cell phone movies are used to move the plot forward, and what we see is not quite clear so we want to find out more, just like the characters in the action, Haggis chose to withhold crucial information from the audience until the end of film. I'm not sure that strengthens the film's structure. We're left with a lot to process in the final moments, and had we known what the central character knew from the beginning, our journey with him might have had deeper resonance, his motives and internal conflicts clearer.

I hope people see this. I know that this war has always divided our nation. But the men and women who fought or fight there need to have this story told. We've made our predicament unfairly theirs. It's a very unhappy thing and congratulations seem out of place. But the filmmakers and performers deserve admiration and our thanks.

An exploration of the current state of the American psyche

[seawalker · 7/10 · 31 January 2008]

"In The Valley Of Elah", Paul Haggis' worthy directorial follow up to his Oscar winning movie "Crash", is only a reasonably good thriller, but hits it's stride in much the same way as "Crash", as an exploration of the current state of the American psyche. The Iraq war itself is a character in this movie and casts a giant emotional shadow over everything that happens.

What has the Iraq war done to America? How has the conflict affected the emotional state of the young men and women involved in the war? What will be the final cost, to a generation of Americans, of Iraq? Top notch performances from Tommy Lee Jones as a serious, grave and dignified ex-soldier trying to find out what happened to his son, and also by a glammed down Charlize Theron as a single mother and detective, sidelined and dismissed by her male colleagues. In fact, not a bad performance by anybody in the cast, even if Susan Sarandon as Tommy Lee Jones' wife is a little underused.

"In The Valley Of Elah" is haunting and powerful and has a stark final image that speaks volumes.

Disappointing

[BertCat · 3/10 · 24 October 2008]

I found this movie a letdown. The acting was pale at best. The plot was not sound. The overt political themes weighed the whole thing to a standstill. The last quarter of the movie was just agonizingly drawn out. After four different characters are "fingered" for the murder, one begins to recall old "who-dun-it" films and wonder when Mrs. Marple will be announced.

TLJ portrayal as a retired Army career man was sad. Jones attempts to walk the walk with the stiff behavior and several buzz phrases. Just doesn't pull it off. Active duty military personnel don't "fix" their beds compulsively! (perhaps it is hard to believe, but most are just every day folks.) It was a bad prop used to attempt to craft a character. And it was a silly one to use. Sad, I say, because I honestly believe TLJ is a much better actor than that. Sometimes, you can't put enough talent into a bad script I guess.

Theron's role of the detective is noteworthy. I liked the stance she seemed to make, not calling out her co-workers for obvious sexism, but measuring her disdain for their behavior by the bucket load. But overboard, in my opinion was the tension developed between the law enforcement officers and the military. There is always some degree of friction, but to have some long standing resentment as seen in the movie would require a long established history of issues. We don't see that or even get hints at it here.

Lastly, disgusting is the portrayal of practically every soldier in the movie as some drugged out, burned out, stressed out product of the war. I've served in the military and been to the places mentioned in the movie. Less than one half of one half of a percent of the soldiers I've served and worked with would fit as characters in this movie. Could there not be a single redeeming figure among them? Why did every one of them have to be "criminal" in some way? Finally, when the end did come, like some tooth extraction visit to a low rate dentist, we are inflicted with the image of TLJ raising a flag upside down, and duct taping the lanyard to the staff. The line, if I recall right, was "Oh, that makes it easy." Flabbergasting....

As Good as it Gets; as Bad as Things Are.

[isabelle1955 · 24 September 2007]

I have no idea what to say about this film. No, that's not true. I have so much to say I just can't organize my thoughts. It's an astoundingly good film about an appallingly depressing subject. After watching this at Santa Cruz CA's delightful Art Deco Del Mar Theater, my spouse and I drove home in silence, and poured a stiff drink before either of us could even begin deconstructing such an astonishing piece of cinema. What to say? What to review? I mean do I talk about the movie or the subject? Movies don't get much better than this but it was a harrowing experience watching it. Don't go when you want an evening of escapist fun. This is not a Friday Night movie. This is a Wet Monday Afternoon movie. Is it only possible to make great movies out of such depressing material? Let's start with the actual movie, directed by Oscar winner Paul Haggis. I'm sure this will be his next nomination. Maybe his next win. It works both as a detective story and a social piece. Every word of the script is perfect, not a word too many, not a word too few. It's perfectly edited and perfectly shot. Synopsis: Soldier returning from tour in Iraq goes AWOL. His father – ex army and ex military police - turns up at his son's base wanting to know what has happened, and the soldier then turns up dead, in small pieces, and apparently cooked. There is a gray area as to whether this is a military or civilian matter, and the father (Tommy Lee Jones) finds himself stuck between an incompetent civilian police force and an edgy and defensive military police force, neither of whom really gives a toss about the truth, the first because truth is too demanding, the second because it's too embarrassing. Why did his son die? Through deciphered cell phone images and gradually disintegrating platoon buddies, father discovers that his son was not the nice guy he thought he was, that he had nasty secrets to hide from mom and dad, like drugs, and a habit of torturing Iraqi prisoners and running over kids.

Tommy Lee Jones gives the performance that will certainly earn him a nomination, and could well get him the Best Actor Oscar. He's an actor I've admired since Men in Black (really! It's on my All Time Favourites list) and in Elah his craggy character matches his craggy face. We feel every ounce of his despair and disillusionment without any histrionics, because the script is spare, and the acting superb. Charlize Theron co stars as the police detective who finds herself dragged into the investigation almost against her will. Despised by her male colleagues who feel she has slept her way to detective status, she goes from traffic patrol to Truth Fairy while juggling life as a single mom. This is certainly far and away the best thing I've ever seen Charlize Theron do. She looks raw and unglamorous and spends a large part of the movie with a Band Aid over her nose after TL Jones inadvertently lands a punch in her face. Susan Sarandon's part is fairly small as TL Jones' wife, but I can see why she wanted to take the role, and her scenes, though few, are stunning and stark. Almost set aside as merely the mother, (whose job, after all, as a mere girly, was just to give birth to and raise her sons. "Couldn't you leave me one of my boys?" she cries in anguish to her husband at one point), she is not allowed into the room where her son's gruesome remains lie (father was) and is expected to be stalwart and supportive, even though dad (TL Jones) set the macho tone for the home, by encouraging both sons to go into the military, where both died. Everyone is good in this movie, the well known and the lesser known. I have seen reviews which suggest it is too long but personally I don't see a thing which could have been cut.

Now the film's subject matter, America's presence in Iraq; this is far more thorny and maybe IMDb is not the correct forum for an in-depth analysis. But personally I'd be happy to see Elah made compulsory viewing in every home. Here's a thought; as a society becomes 'softer' and its sons (and daughters) are taught equality, diversity, emotional intelligence and political correctness all through their formative years, how does that society then train the killers its military wing needs for war? Apparently, by hammering into them some kind of totally over the top hyper macho-ness, which not only melds them into a fighting unit but inures some to normal standards of human behaviour and possibly turns a few into sadists of the nastiest variety. (Or were these guys sadists before they joined the army and got shipped to Iraq?) Then shoving them into a totally unnecessary and unwarranted war where it is impossible to tell who is a friend and who a foe. How do you come from a society that purports to believe every life is valuable, and find yourself running over children playing in the street in case they are the enemy? This movie is said to be based on a real story. If it is, and that doesn't sober us up, nothing will. The only real surprise is that more of them don't go nuts.

One very slight criticism. The murder site looks exactly the same as the murder site in Paul Haggis' Oscar winner Crash. It jarred. I found it a distraction to be saying to myself, "Hey isn't that where they found the body in Crash too?" He needs to find a new location scout.

Potent but underdeveloped and confused

[oneloveall · 6/10 · 10 September 2007]

At times this low-key soldier murder-mystery story touches upon very fertile, topical ground, informing viewers in confrontational ways of the pervasive black hole currently known as operation Iraqi freedom (hauntingly brief cell-phone images interspersed throughout the film remain the most vital imagery to be found and a welcome contrast to the film's too-relaxed pace). Sadly the main focus shifts from the horrors of our youth in battle to a tidy, unnecessary, and even mildly irrelevant detective procedural.

Suffering from a minor form of identity disorder, In the Valley of Elah is too somber and emotional to keep the detail-intensive mystery balanced, and too top-heavy with superfluous detail to be the Spiritual/Political manifesto it dabbles in. By the time a final plot twist occurs as this lukewarm mystery unfolds, viewers will have invested more in the sub-plot's reality based observations then the half baked revelation, (itself leading to hardly anything worthwhile).

While the film may be flawed as a whole, many individual scenes retain a muted power, exemplified best by the increasing contours around Tommy Lee Jones's face, a stoic actor and noble, if not utterly commanding lead presence that helps hold the film's emotional depth in place. Paul Haggis follows up his award winning and immensely popular Crash by shaving off some production fat for what will amount to a lesser embraced film (as much for a perceivable anti-patriotic agenda as it's lackluster thematic equations), perhaps to his artistic credit-as clumsy his direction can sometimes be, we are still treated to moments of sublime observation.

A compelling and moving film

[howard.schumann · 9/10 · 10 March 2008]

Loosely based on the story of Richard Davis who was killed by fellow soldiers in Columbus, Georgia after returning from Iraq in 2003, In the Valley of Elah, Paul Haggis' first feature since his Oscar winner Crash is a poignant reminder of how war robs people of their humanity. In one of the best performances of his career, Tommy Lee Jones is Hank Deerfield, a career military man whose son Mike (Jonathan Tucker) is reported as AWOL from his New Mexico base after returning from eighteen months in Iraq. What Hank discovers in searching for Mike is enough to shake his faith in an institution that had nurtured him and threaten his entire world view.

Though Deerfield is an ex-military man who knows the value of discipline and hyper-efficiency, he is a man who carries the scars of the death of his other son, killed in a military training accident. When he learns about Mike's disappearance, he tries to calm the fears of his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon), but one can sense in the lines of sadness etched in his worn face that he is very worried. In a very prophetic scene, as he sets out for the Army base to conduct his own investigation, he notices that an American flag is flying upside down, a symbol of international distress, and stops to teach the groundskeeper the difference.

At the base, Deerfield is thwarted by the stonewalling of the military and the inept local police force and cannot get anywhere with Lt. Kirklander (Jason Patric) who is in charge of the missing person operation. Fortunately, he finds a detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) who is assigned to the case. Taunted by chauvinist fellow detectives who think she slept her way onto the squad, she is eager to prove herself as capable as her detractors. When Deerfield's body is discovered, gruesomely cut up in an open field, Deerfield and Sanders work together to piece together the puzzle, suspecting the involvement of drugs and drug dealers. With the help of video left on Mike's cell phone, however, he discovers secrets that begin to shake his faith in American institutions though he never questions his son's actions.

In one of the most moving sequences in the film, Hank tells Sanders little boy the biblical story of David who killed the giant Goliath with a slingshot in the valley of Elah. Deerfield soon understands, however, that it is not enough to fight your own fears in standing up to an adversary but it is necessary to treat the enemy as a human being while still doing your job. Mike and his fellow soldiers have been unable to erase the ugly violence they perpetrated on civilians in Iraq and have brought this self hatred home. In spite of a too literal ending that robs us of the power of our imagination and borders on the polemic, In the Valley of Elah is a compelling and moving film that makes certain we do not forget what the war in Iraq has done not only to our soldier's bodies but to their minds and souls as well.

Conflict in Iraq told from a somewhat subdued Haggis

[editor-299 · 6/10 · 14 September 2007]

Writer/director Paul Haggis is no stranger to putting quality work on the screen (his "Million Dollar Baby" screenplay won the Academy Award in 2004); he's also not above pounding his messages home with a sledgehammer and a few sticks of dynamite (see the ridiculously over-praised "Crash").

So, when Haggis decided to go after the current war in Iraq, I was expecting the sparks to fly. Thankfully, however, his work with Clint Eastwood must have taught him a little restraint, as his newest release, "In the Valley of Elah" (pronounced "EE-lah"), is surprisingly subtle – for Haggis, that is.

Still, the rather unsubtle conclusion leaves no doubt about the director's sympathies regarding the conflict; which, I suppose is in sync with the sensibilities of many Americans.

The plot, however, has little to do with the actual fighting in Mesopotamia, dealing instead with a soldier who returns home only to end up dead and dismembered near his army base. It's basically a murder-mystery whodunit set against the backdrop of this most divisive issue.

The father, retired army sergeant, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones, "The Fugitive"), is informed of his son's disappearance by military authorities, but they and local law enforcement seem helpless to do much about it.

When a dismembered body is found to be his son, Deerfield teams up with a town police detective, Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron, "Monster"), in an attempt to uncover the crime. Used to having his own way (he was an investigator in the army), Deerfield bullies his way into the situation, going over everyone's head in various undiplomatic ways.

He's also smart enough to figure out clues ordinary investigators would overlook; and while Sanders resents his interference at first, she begins to grudgingly accept his assistance. Despite this double-team, though, their work leads up several promising - but ultimately blind - alleys until they finally stumble onto what really took place.

Meanwhile, Hank has recovered his son's cell phone with several disturbing video images from the war-torn country which may or may not lead to the killer(s).

With able support from Susan Sarandon (much funnier here as a grieving mother than she ever was in "Mr. Woodcock"), Jason Patric ("Narc"), James Franco ("Spider-Man," "The Great Raid") and Barry Corbin ("WarGames," the TV series "Northern Exposure"), among others, In the Valley of Elah (the biblical area in which David slew Goliath) is an interesting, if not fine piece of film craft.

It has it's flaws, of course, and it's allusions to better works, such as "Missing" and "Coming Home," spotlight these shortcomings even more.

The picture, however, is carried by Jones, who with a few facial expressions and grunts, conveys more emotion and thoughtfulness than pages of dialog. His scene when informed of his boy's death is heartbreaking; while his brief interaction with Emily's young son has a sweet edge, revealing the battle-hardened career military man to have somewhat of a soft center.

Some viewers may have problems with the less-than-tactful ending, however, utilizing an American flag (which seems to pander to a certain segment of the audience), as well as implying that most of our soldiers fighting in Iraq are sadistic killers.

When Haggis sticks to the murder mystery aspect, he travels a much more interesting (if not overly conventional) path. When he veers into politics, though, he tends to get bogged down – like a heavy-handed lecture from Al Gore. This does not detract - too much - from an overall decent bit of work.

A less soapy, more plot-driven Haggis drama

[billybobwashere · 8/10 · 15 September 2007]

There are many people out there who hate the way Paul Haggis made his directorial debut, "Crash," an overly soapy and stupidly-tied-together drama (at least, that's what it felt like to them). Those people don't have to worry. His second major directorial outing, "In the Valley of Elah," avoids both of the "mistakes" (although I'd hardly call them that, seeing as he won Best Picture for what he did with "Crash") that he made last time around. Instead of mixing together multiple stories and having them all connect at the very end, this movie revolves around one main story, a story that seems a lot like the modern-day war version of "Chinatown." Instead of going for simple emotional tugs that he did with "Crash," this film focuses on its understated performances, namely from Tommy Lee Jones, who is superb in this film. It is truly courageous of Paul Haggis to be willing to make some serious changes to the style that won him a Best Picture Academy Award, and even more impressive that he pulls it off very well.

The story revolves around an ex-military officer, Hank Deerfield, who is told that his son, a soldier returning home from Iraq, has gone missing. Jones plays the character in such a quiet way that makes you feel like he thinks he shouldn't be showing emotion, but has a lot of it bottled up inside of him. When he arrives at the military station, people don't seem to want to tell him what happened, and say that they expect he'll come to the base anytime soon (this is portrayed especially well by James Franco, who you may know as Harry Osbourne from the "Spider-man" movies).

Refusing to believe that it's as simple as that, Deerfield is relentless in getting information out of people as to what really happened. It's the way he functioned in the army, and it benefits him greatly as he has to get any information he can out of people. Enter Detective Emily Sanders (played by a very strong Charlize Theron), who at first just wants to get through her job for the day, but soon gets wrapped up in also discovering what really happened to Deerfield's son. The two of them have great chemistry together, as their two different personalities give two different perspectives on what's happening.

The movie works because although it does have quite a few negative things to say about the current war in Iraq, the entire film isn't a two-hour tirade against it. It only makes that message part of the story, and does it in subtle ways (aka the soldiers don't just go "War...it...destroys...you..." but take a lot more time expressing their emotion). Much of the story works like a mixture between the great film "Chinatown" and a much better-acted, better-written version of a really good episode of "CSI." Although there may be a few too many twists and lies circling about, it comes to its conclusion very well in a satisfying way for the audience.

Paul Haggis has an uncanny way of bringing out great performances from all of his actors. The performance of Tommy Lee Jones could be the best of his career, he brings out a much more emotionally quiet side in Charlize Theron than we've before seen, the short performance of Susan Sarandon is particularly powerful, and all of the soldiers are played with a feeling of sincerity. The acting is probably the strongest element of the film, and if there's any "weak part," it would have to be the way Haggis forced out some of the plot twists to make the film as long as he wanted it to be.

Regardless of its few problems, "In the Valley of Elah" is both a very well-mannered look at the war in Iraq and its effects on the people involved, as well as a very interesting crime thriller. At the heart of it is Haggis's quietly powerful directing style and the cast's powerfully quiet performances. I don't see this picking up a Best Picture nomination as Haggis's past three Oscar hopeful screenplays ("Letters from Iwo Jima," "Crash," and "Million Dollar Baby"), but I would not be surprised to see it pick up a few acting nominations as well as possibly a screenplay nod. If it does...it would have definitely earned it.

severely cold hearted not to shed a few tears

[jess-154 · 7/10 · 12 February 2008]

I'm confused. What exactly was the point of making this film? Epics such as Apocalypse Now informed and intrigued while comedies like Good Morning Vietnam brought some humanity to an otherwise horrific historic tragedy (though tragedy is clearly an understatement). The Valley of Elah, meanwhile, focuses on a disaster still very fresh in out minds: Iraq.

The importance of the American flag may hint at patriotism, but Director Paul Haggis' interpretation of the US Army proceeds to squash any notion of pride. Over 121 minutes I was continuously reminded of all the evil going on in the world; war, death, torture, inequality. The clever use Hank Deerfield's (Tommy Lee Jones) AWOL son's mobile phone footage allowed very real and disturbing war images to regularly take over the screen. As if we haven't seen enough real evidence of the corruption and inhumane treatment during "the war on terror" – or what ever excuse they're using these days.

You'd have to be severely cold hearted not to shed a few tears – but rather then the result of superb directing or intricate insightfulness mine were because I was reminded of how much unimaginable suffering the war has caused to millions. Personally, I'd rather spare myself the anguish.

That's not to say the cast were anything but great. Charlize Theron's well practiced strong woman character, Emily Sanders, was as believable as ever while Jones was perfect as the all-American ex-Army dad. Susan Sarandon didn't disappoint either, though it's a shame we see so little of her. And a fantastic performance by the relatively unknown Wes Chatham as Corporal Steve Penning and Jake McLaughlin as Spc. Gordon Bonner. It's just a shame that this film doesn't really know its purpose. I doubt it's trying to encourage new recruits, nor did I feel inspired to try and stop the fighting.

If Haggis wanted to show things as they really are then I'm afraid his timing couldn't be worse. Wait until the troops have left, let us heal a little, before attempting to analyse and interfere.

The Fan Carpet - www.thefancarpet.com

confused by reviews

[Rick-34 · 9/10 · 11 November 2007]

I just saw this film and consider it to be one of the best anti-war films I've seen in quite a long time. And that makes me wonder at what the various critics are thinking. Roger Ebert gets it right, but some film critics are far too dismissive of a very serious, important film. James Berardinelli, in particular, seems curiously _angry_ that this film depicts the moral degradation of war in a frank and honest fashion.

Berardinelli is basically wrong in every single thing he says about the film. Since this film is not a "politcal message" film, it has no requirement to "show both sides equally". It is a story about a group of soldiers basically driven beyond the area of traditionally human behavior. Berardinelli thinks that it's "obvious" that war changes the way people feel about their country.

I sense a person utterly detached from history when I read that. A recent study concluded that the English were, as a group, fairly happy during WWII, even when their nation was under attack. Why was that? Because they believed in what they were doing. The notion that war _necessarily_ results in moral breakdown is, while hardly novel, also not true. That is part of what is important about "Elah". Jones' character is a veteran of the Vietnam war, and is hardly a delicate flower when it comes to the matters of war and its effect on the psyche. And yet even he is floored at what the Iraq war has done to the soldiers.

It is easy for a film critic to simply reject what is essentially reporting on the state of the military today. That Berardinelli does so with such vitriol makes me guess that he is injecting his own bias into the review.

Dirty Little Secrets

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 14 July 2008]

In 2004, in Munro, Tennessee, the former Sergeant and owner of a tow truck Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to contact his son Mike (Jonathan Tucker) in Fort Rudd after a period serving in Iraq. However, he is informed that his son is missing in the base and has become Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL). Hank drives to the base to search his son and after an interview with the military staff, he is not convinced of the answers; then he goes to the police precinct telling that Mike is a missing person. However, the jurisdictional conflict between the Army and the police associated to a lack of interest in the case leaves Hank in limbo. Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) feels sympathy for Hank and together they investigated and discover dirty little secrets with an impressive case of dehumanization caused by the invasion and consequent war in Iraq.

"In the Valley of Elah" discloses a sad story of dehumanization of human beings as a side effect of a senseless invasion of a millenary country "to bring democracy", and the most impressive is that it seems that this story was based on a true event. The footages of a destroyed Iraq; the sequences of the boy hit by the Army truck and the dialog of the soldiers; the description of the sadistic torture of an injured person; the dehumanization of the brutal and alienated soldiers under drug influence; and the feelings of Hank expressed by the upside-down flag in the end of the story, make the viewer think about the effects of this invasion in the population of Iraq that lost families, properties, jobs and sees their lives destroyed by invaders without a minimum preparation to deal with their ancient culture and parents, families and friends of the soldiers. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "No Vale das Sombras" ("In the Valley of the Shadows")

A film that takes on a daring theme

[wisewebwoman · 8/10 · 23 February 2008]

And with the war still on, the theme of PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - is topical and relevant. Shell shock, they used to call it. It is more than shells these days, of course - it is the killing of children and innocents which has an appalling and destabilizing effect on the young U.S. men and women soldiers engaged in Iraq.

Paul Haggis who has made Crash amongst other good films, tackles this difficult subject with sensitivity depicting the dehumanization of the soldiers who come home to an indifferent populace.

Hank Deerfield (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is a retired Vietnam veteran who investigates the disappearance of his son and comes up against the brick wall of military police. A sympathetic detective, Emily Sanders (played by Charlize Theron) slowly takes an interest in the case and negotiates with her superior officer to take the case back from the military police who want to brush it under the rug. When Mike Deerfield is found, dismembered and scattered, Hank commits himself to getting at the truth.

This film is not an anti-war effort but rather the facts are all presented, and one is left to come to one's own conclusions.

Tommy Lee Jones gives one of his best performances here, a relentless, humourless driven father, who has not been the best father, but doesn't rest until he finds the closure he desperately needs on the matter of the murder of his son.

Susan Sarandon was totally underused in the part of the mother of Mike, but the little we are shown of her is riveting.

Charlize Theron plays down her beauty to the degree that she wears bandages and bruises on her face through many of the scenes and ignores the rampant sexism of her unit. A great performance.

I didn't care for the Valley of Elah metaphor which is at the core of the movie itself. The David and Goliath story did not have a relevance to a story of PTSD and the horrific effects it has on both perpetrators and victims. So I am left puzzled at this symbolism. A little guy taking on a giant? Who would be the little guy? The Iraqis?

However, that vexation aside, for overall tension and the sheer watchability of Mr. Jones in a meaty role, this movie gets an 8 out of 10 from me.

.

Gripping murder mystery with social undertones

[Turfseer · 7/10 · 8 March 2008]

The biggest surprise about "The Valley of Elah" is how far Paul Haggis has developed as a writer. I felt his screenplay for "Million Dollar Baby" was awful: a flimsy, clichéd melodrama full of complete one-dimensional characters. Then there was "Crash" which certainly was a vast improvement over "Baby" but that too had many moments that were too incredible to believe as well as being generally inconsistent. But now along comes "Elah", a subtle, murder/detective mystery with cogent social undertones.

"Elah" operates on two levels--there is of course the main plot of a dogged detective (very capably played by Charlize Theron) who must go up against duo bureaucracies of her own police department and the US Army in order find out who murdered the son of a veteran (a former Military policeman/investigator--Hank Deerfield) played by Tommie Lee Jones. The second level is the more subtle mystery as to what happened to Deerfield's son while he was a soldier in Iraq.

This 'subplot' in some ways proves to be just as fascinating as the solution to the actual murder of the soldier. The subplot is unraveled visually: Deerfield surreptitiously removes his son's cell phone from his room on the base and then has a local underground computer expert extract the digital video from the phone. Throughout the movie, Deerfield is trying to decipher what's going on from the distorted and shaky images captured on the cell phone.

The message of the film is clear--war (and particularly the war in Iraq) can lead to trauma and worse, damage to the psyche of the soldiers who are there to the point where they have become totally desensitized to their own feelings and emotions. To his dismay, Deerfield finds out the truth about his son--that he went from being a fairly normal young man before he went into the Army and ends up desensitized and psychically damaged along with his buddies who end up responsible for his death. Deerfield already knows that things weren't right 'over there' when it's revealed at the end of the film that he received a call from his son while he was still in Iraq, crying over something that happened. A confession by the soldier who murdered Mike Deerfield reveals that he was upset over an incident where he and a partner in a Humvee run over a child. Mike Deerfield is so riddled with guilt that he gets out of his vehicle (despite the danger of being shot by insurgents) and takes a picture of the child's corpse. But we also find out the meaning of Mike's nickname "Doc"--that there were two sides to the traumatized soldier; one side was guilt-ridden but strong enough to take the picture of the dead Iraqi boy. But he also was a sadist who tortured a prisoner by poking him with a gun in areas on the man's body that had been wounded.

Haggis could have depicted Mike Deerfield as a complete victim of war but oftentimes life is more complex--Mike is both a victim and a victimizer. The main plot also keeps one riveted. At first, the main suspects, Mike's buddies seem to be cleared when a surveillance photo of them returning to base in their car turns up. Later, an Hispanic soldier (who has gone AWOL) is suspected and Hank Deerfield loses his objectivity and tries to beat the fleeing suspect (showing that he's not perfect also). Finally, the case is solved when the detective receives a copy of Mike Deerfield's credit card receipt which is signed by one of the soldiers he was with instead of Mike himself. The soldiers confess but the detective feels thwarted when she learns that the Army and local prosecutor have agreed to reduced sentences for the murderer and his accomplice (a third soldier commits suicide before the arrests out of guilt).

The motive for the murder is chilling--there is no real reason. Just a bunch of drunk soldiers who have no control over impulses due to being desensitized by their experiences of war in Iraq. Of course not all soldiers end up desensitized by war and we probably needed to see a few more "well-balanced" Army people in this film. In addition, most of the military and civilian police investigators were pretty negative characters who were determined to stonewall the investigation at every turn. That makes for good drama I suppose, but it wasn't completely realistic.

Haggis's plot was supposedly based on real events. Obviously he needed to compress the action so that the story moved along and kept the audience's interest. Again, much of the chronology of the events in the movie did not seem completely realistic. Still the story is quite gripping and Tommie Lee Jones was excellent in an understated performance. Why wasn't "Elah" nominated best picture? It's simple--the Academy believes in spreading out their awards to as many filmmakers as possible. Haggis already has gotten his 'awards' for Million Dollar Baby and Crash. Now it was the Coen Brothers' turn. But Valley of Elah was a superior picture.

An insulting film for those who serve

[goody82 · 1/10 · 23 October 2009]

I have watched this movie about 3 times in the past 2 years, the first time was while I was in Iraq for my second time. This movie has motivated me to get onto the Internet, come here, register, and post this.

This movie is such an insult to me by the way it depicts the U.S. Army. The ice cold barracks, the fellow soldiers you cannot trust or respect, the unchecked sadistic nature of these soldiers. It's war hating, soldier disrespecting propaganda. It was bad enough without the upside down American flag. Yes, if the state of U.S. Army was actually as it is displayed in this movie, then yes that scene would be fitting, but this is not true.

While active duty in the Army for over 5 years, a junior enlisted to sergeant in the ranks, in the 3rd infantry division, and 2 year+ deployments to central Iraq under my belt I think this movie is a pure crock of you know what. And no, I'm not a right wing bush voting war monger.

Was this movie dramatic enough to hold my interest? Yes. But for this bleak world around a military base to be depicted as truth and honestly is absolute crap. I have never seen so much dreariness anywhere in the U.S. Army. I don't know how to go on with words, I Just want to put the word out there that fictional depictions of life, like portrayed in this movie, do far more harm than good.

Post traumatic stress does exist, it has taken a while for me to stop missing being deployed, I missed the camaraderie, my buddies, and the excitement of deployment life, and no it was not about baby killing and slaughter. The issues that this movie is supposed to represent should be out there, and they are, but this ridiculous portrayal is a disgrace to those who serve, and care, and try to be honorable on a daily basis.