In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Dehumanizing effect of the Iraq war

War is always ugly. It does not matter where it is fought or by whom. Soldiers are active participants in surival games that require them to kill with or without reason in order to preserve their won life or the lives of the people around them. This story is a story of the current generation of young people going to Iraq. They are used to video cameras, simple comforts of every day life, while long stays in a third world country like Iraq are having lasting effects on their psyche. Tommy Lee Jones plays a father whose sons goes AWOL. He is convinced that if his son is missing, there must be a valid reason and decides to launch his own investigation. When a body was found just outside of the city and identified as remains of his son, he is determined to find a person that committed the crime. Local police and military police fight over jurisdiction and the right to investigate the crime. Is it that military wants to keep this hush-hush, or that the local police does not want another murder on their worksheet? Caught in the battle are the grief stricken father and a female police officer, herself a victim of endless sexist torture at the workplace. What is mesmerizing is the way that a young man was killed (over 40 stab wounds with the knife, body cut up in pieces and burned). Even more troubling is the discovery that it was his military buddies who did it. What sort of experience do these young men go through to be able to kill in the most gruesome way one of their own? Are they sociopaths enabled even more by their participation in a war where killing is a part of the daily life, or just irrevocably damaged goods with no shred of consience left? Tommy Lee Jones is so good in this role. This film will make one think abour consequences of war and its affect on people for a long time. It redefines humanity and what it means to different people. November 10, 2008

GOOD PERFOMANCES CAN'T SAVE THIS OVERLY LONG DRAMA!

'In The Valley Of Elah is an interesting story with good perfomances by Jones, Sarandon and Theron, but the film's snail pace had me wanting to fast forward at times. Although the story is interesting and sad, showing that war destroys more than the obvious. It's not like we haven't seen this stuff before and I felt like I knew where it was going long before the end of the movie. It's an OK watch about a 2 1/2 star rating, but it's really nothing new. November 9, 2008

Typical Anti-war, Anti-American, Hollywood Communist Crap

Well, the liberals in Hollywood have produced another anti-American propaganda film. To be certain, all war is hell, rotten, miserable, Godless, and ashamedly horrible. Man's inhumanity to man began in the Garden of Eden not the Valley of Elah. And, by the way, the liberal atheist commies couldn't get the battle of David and Goliath correct...no mention of Yahweh, the God of Israel; no mention of who David is; no mention of the insult of the Philistine's against the true God of Israel (the liberals mention that this is not a true story)...truly typical of the commie liberal Hollywood elites.

Prepare to see more and more US flags hung upside-down, and worse than that, God Himself lied about and distorted. Satan sure is having a 'field-day'.

If you want to feel miserable about who you are and the lousy wars of American history, and the Republican government; then watch this crappy communist propaganda film and enjoy what little time we all have left. November 9, 2008

An Important Movie.....

I have only a few words to say about "In The Valley of Elah". This is a movie that EVERYONE should watch. Not just for the fact that it is a good movie, but as a reminder of what our men and women are having to go through in the service of our country. Anyone that has a son or daughter or relative that is considering going into the service should highly consider watching this movie with that person before enlisting. October 26, 2008

"Dad, you have to get me out of here."

It is all written on the faces, the harried father who desperately seeks the whereabouts of his son after a tour in Iraq, the others who served with the young man, their proud military bearing and soft-spoken reverence for authority belied by what they have seen and done in service to their country. In this powerful, haunting tale, the rigors of war fall upon the survivors. Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), ex-career military, leaves his home in Tennessee, wife (Susan Sarandon) waiting anxiously behind. Hank's last words: "I'll find him." Setting off in his pickup truck, Hank heads for his Mike Deerfield's military base. There are insufficient answers to ease a troubled father's mind. Hoping to circumvent the military police, Hank requests the help of Detective Emily Sanders, a young woman much derided by her fellow detectives. Resistant to Deerfield's imprecations, Sanders at allows him to accompany her to the scene of a recent crime, the mutilation and burning of an unidentified victim.

Once the victim is identified we come to the heart of the film- the reasons for a brutal slaying that straddles the border of military and civilian jurisdiction. Clinging to his rigorous daily standards, military corners on his motel bed, spit-shining his shoes each night before the terrible revelations of the next day, Deerfield is the contemporary American father, patriotic, hard-working, respectful of the institution that has formed the backbone of his life and that of his family. But everything he believes is challenged by the facts, piece by disheartening piece, all pointing towards an institution overwhelmed by the necessities of an ongoing war and the collateral damage inflicted on those who honor their country's call. Director Haggis is circumspect- at no time does he disrespect the military or the soldiers who serve their nation. But he cuts to the heart of war as etched on the face of one parent who bears the unbearable, the loss of a son in circumstances that baffle and disturb him.

Reviewing snippets of film accessed from his son's cell phone, Deerfield watches his son's reactions to the stresses of war, the moral dilemmas faced daily by soldiers in combat. Returning home, these young men are as tightly coiled as when in Iraq, struggling to integrate in a world that has moved on. As the detective slowly unravels a web of deceit engineered by the army, Deerfield hovers nearby, unable to return home without answers. Those he receives do little to lessen his pain, the internal struggle writ clear on the actor's face, more powerful than the declarations of the guilty, the smooth, untroubled faces of Mike's friends. One laments, "I couldn't wait to get out of Iraq. After two weeks here, I wish I could go back." This portrait of loss is scathing and painful, with no villain to blame, save the grim realities of war in the modern age, when powerful machines of destruction are wielded by the flesh and blood of fallible humans. David slays Goliath in the Valley of Elah, but this is a monster of our own making, the nature of war and its necessary, if inhuman demands. With a superior supporting cast (Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, Jason Patrick), Jones stands alone, much like his character, his grief relentless. Luan Gaines/2008.
October 19, 2008

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