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In the Valley of Elah

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

Award-winning director Paul Haggis tackles the moral devastation of American soldiers serving in Iraq, trying to find universal appeal in this antiwar picture focused on their homecoming. A retired sergeant, Hank (Tom Lee Jones), a by-the-book military man, receives a disturbing phone call from Fort Rudd, New Mexico that his son, Mike(Jonathan Tucker) went missing after his first weekend back from serving in Iraq. After promising his wife he will get to the bottom of things, Hank hops in his pick-up and heads down to investigate the disappearance of his only surviving son (an older son was killed in military training accident). The situation gets worse when he learns that his son was hacked to pieces and dumped in a field. Since this happened to fall within a military jurisdiction, a whole can of worms is opened up.

The military authorities are reluctant to pursue the situation, suspecting it to be a drug-related
incident. Even Mike's colleagues have no clue and Hank is left in limbo, as if this is some initial sign of the military covering up its mess. Hank has no choice but to knock at the door of the local police. He approaches Emily Sanders (Charlize Therson), a single mother detective, Emily, who initially shrugs it off as an army incident. With Hank's persistence and his view which illustrate the situation better than the detective and the army's investigator, Lt. KirkLander (Jason Patric), Sanders is forced to eventually convince her superior that Mike was killed on town property, taking the case into their own jurisdiction. Down to the human level they both relate to the pressures of raising an only child.

Director Paul Haggis lays out too many subplots, trying to send the messages of something bigger than this picture, taking onto himself the burden of seeing the characters as archetypes. Still, the film is consistent in terms of its superb acting and in the choice of a timely issue that keeps us interested. And the four soldiers, who play Mike's buddies add a sense of real military posture (two of the actors actually served in the military). But most effort comes from the two top-notch actors, Theron and Jones, who both exceed their abilities in their award-winning effort. In the end, Director Haggis poses the question of how war can affect good people? Here, he provides a well-intended response.

Written and directed by Paul Haggis
Based on a story by Mark Boal and Paul Haggis
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Edited by Jo Francis
Music by Mark Isham
Production designer: Laurence Bennett
Produced by Patrick Wachsberger Steven Samuels,
Darlene Caamano Loquet, Paul Haggis and Laurence Becsey
Released by Warner Independent Pictures.
Running time: 120 minutes.

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones (Hank Deerfield)
Charlize Theron (Emily Sanders)
Susan Sarandon (Joan Deerfield)
James Franco (Sergeant Carnelli)
Jonathan Tucker (Mike Deerfield)
Frances Fisher (Evie)
Jason Patric (Lieutenant Kirklander),
and Josh Brolin (Chief Buchwald)