Movie Review for In the Valley of Elah (2007)

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Review #537 of 365
Movie Review of In the Valley of Elah (2007) [R] 124 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.25
Where Viewed: Cinemark Century 16, Lakewood, CO
When 1st Seen: 29 September 2007
Time: 7:10 pm
DVD Release Date: 19 February 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

Soundtrack: Download now from Mark Isham - In the Valley of Elah - or - order the CD below

Directed by: Paul Haggis (Crash)
Screenplay by: Paul Haggis (Casino Royale) based on the story by Paul Haggis and Mark Boal

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Tommy Lee Jones (A Prairie Home Companion) • Charlize Theron (North Country) • Jason Patric (The Alamo) • Susan Sarandon (Mr. Woodcock) • James Franco (Spider-Man 3) • Barry Corbin (Beautiful Dreamer) • Josh Brolin (Planet Terror) • Frances Fisher (The Kingdom) • Wes Chatham ("Barbershop") • Jake McLaughlin (debut) • Mehcad Brooks (Glory Road) • Jonathan Tucker (Pulse)

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The Valley of Elah is the place where David fought Goliath and serves in the case of the title for Academy Award®-winning writer / director Paul Haggis's film, In the Valley of Elah, as a reference to a little guy trying to stand up to a very much bigger guy. Unfortunately, in the film, David sadly does not slay Goliath (but you'll have to visit the spoiler points to find out more on that. The film begins with a call from a military base in New Mexico where Mike Deerfield (Jonathan Tucker) has just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. Mike has gone missing, and he might be A.W.O.L. Mike joined the army to follow in the footsteps of his former M.P. father, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones). What he didn't know was that his time in Iraq would transform him from a warm and loving son into someone else. Not wanting to waste any time, Hank kisses his wife and mother of his two sons, Joan (Susan Sarandon) goodbye, and heads from their home in Tennessee where he is a now a gravel hauler to the base. He arrives in record time and asks to see his son's quarters. Sgt. Dan Carnelli (James Franco) shows him around and introduces Hank to some of the men in Mike's unit. Hank swipes Mike's cell phone from his desk drawer knowing that he's committing a crime in doing so. Around this same time, the police have discovered a body in a field about 30 miles from the base. It has been dismembered and burned nearly beyond recognition. As Hank investigates his son's disappearance, the Army and the Police get into a match over who has jurisdiction over the crime scene as the body is technically on military property. Obviously, the body turns out to be that of Mike Deerfield, turning Hank's search for his son into a search for his son's killer. He 'befriends' a female police detective, Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), whose rise in the department is resented by her male colleagues. She's very good at what she does, but they cannot accept her. The unlikely pair, then sets out to get to the bottom of this mystery. Bit by bit, Hank shows his superior investigation skills convincing her that the case is hers as evidence he revealed shows his son was killed by the side of the road on public property and then dragged into the field to be burned and hidden. Mike's cell phone videos are unlocked by a phone hacker in Hank's employ, and little by little, Hank gets closer and closer to the truth of not only what happened to his son, but what the war in Iraq did to him.

While there is a degree of suspense in the solving of the mystery of Mike's murder, really, this film is not a thriller in that sense. Instead, the film quickly becomes one of patriotism and what happens to young men when they are zealously trained to become soldiers in an unfathomable conflict in a far away land with an entirely foreign culture. Paul Haggis brilliantly contrasts the type of military loyalty and pride held by the elder Hank as it slowly evaporates as does his faith in his government and, perhaps, humanity in general with the stark reality of what it means to be in a pre-emptive military strike against a sovereign nation that has fallen into chaos and arguably civil war. The ending of the film seals any doubts as to what conclusions Hank Deerfield has arrived as he must accept the deaths of both of his sons, the older one to a helicopter accident years prior.

The volatile film makes a very strong anti-war statement without ever saying anything about it. The brilliance of Paul Haggis is that he creates settings, characters, and scenes that force you to confront the incongruities in your beliefs and notions without pointing them out directly. The net effect stabs you as potently as if he'd just blasted it into your brain with a megaphone to the side of your head. It's absolutely incomprehensible how on earth this story, inspired by actual events, could have ever happened. Moreover, the very idea that young men and women are being put into situations where the kinds of results as show in this film might ever happen is as unholy a thing as one could ever imagine. It's impossible to conclude otherwise than that our species must find a better way to resolve its differences and conflicts.

Tommy Lee Jones masters Hank Deerfield right down to the ritual shining of his shoes and making his motel bed with hospital corners each morning giving one of his best performances ever. He's a father whose dedication to his nation has been absolute and his belief in the honor of serving to protect the freedom of that land unwavering. This has to have been an unbelievably moving character to play. Charlize Theron does an adequate job with her character who is, unfortunately, not as developed as thoroughly. Mr. Haggis probably erred on the side of making things overly complicated confronting the sexism in her work place and making her a mysteriously single mother. It is to her son that Hank tells the story of David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah. The rest of the characters were uncharacteristically stock given Mr. Haggis's mastery of the ensemble as evidenced in Crash.

"Tommy Lee Jones masters Hank Deerfield…giving one of his best performances ever. "
Worst among these are Lt. Kirklander, the military's lead investigator into Mike's murder and Josh Brolin's callous police chief Buchwald. Jason Patric's portrayal of Kirklander comes across as cold, calculated, and hardly the kind of person we'd want to be out there working to defend the honor of our soldiers. Meanwhile, Brolin's Buchwald just stinks. The standout by far, however, was Wes Chatham's steely portrayal of Mike's friend and unit member, Corporal Steve Penning. With the vacuous emotional underpinnings of a cold-blooded serial killer, Mr. Chatham illustrates almost too well, the eventual impact of soldiers commanded by people who have seemingly lost touch with reality. As for Susan Sarandon, whose role gives her even less time than she enjoyed in the desperately inane Mr. Woodcock can find solace in the respect she'll garner for this role vs. the former. Still, however, her character's most important act occurs off camera to be discovered by her husband later—basically she's subjugated to the near back-seat of the greatness driving ahead.

And that greatness is in the final scene which in no uncertain terms expresses the disenchantment of Hank Deerfield with his country and its governance and with its loss of direction at the top and the damage done. His action echo his concerns for the thousands and thousands of US veteran victims that will return from this plunge into the madness of war perhaps not as dissonant and disconnected as his son but changed human beings nonetheless. For some, this statement is going to ignite anger. For others, it will bring tears of acknowledgement. Either way, it's one of the most impacting final scenes ever for its incredible ability to summarize as that is wrong with not just this conflict but with this notion of conflict resolution. In the end, In the Valley of Elah packs a powerful contribution to that which helps us to understand the aftermath and impact of the zealous arrogance of the mighty military industrial complex. It might make good sense to take some time out now to read or listen to President Eisenhower's famous speech from 1961 on the subject, and reflect on what we might all do to ensure that, as he said on the last night of his presidency, we "… avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect."

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Other Projects Featuring In the Valley of Elah (2007)
Cast Members
Tommy Lee Jones • Charlize Theron • Jason Patric
Susan Sarandon • James Franco • Barry Corbin
Josh Brolin • Frances Fisher • Wes Chatham
Jake McLaughlin • Jonathan Tucker
Director
Paul Haggis
Writer
Paul Haggis
CD Soundtrack
DVD
VHS
Review-lite In the Valley of Elah (2007) [max of 150 words]
Paul Haggis takes on the story of a US Iraq War veteran who returns home only to be murdered hours later and the investigation conducted by his father, a former M.P., Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) into his death and disappearance. Inspired by real events (names and places changed), the story seems on the surface like a powerful military suspense film, when it quickly transforms, as did his son Mike while in Iraq, into something very different. In the case of the film, it becomes a less subtle anti-war film, with the final scene showing in no uncertain terms how Hank Deerfield feels now about a government that has cost him the lives of both of his sons.
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