In the Valley of Elah” is director/screenwriter Paul Haggis’ adaptation of a Playboy article written by Mark Boal, about the death of Richard Davis, who was killed after returning home from Iraq. The movie finds a release at a profitable time, when its blatant anti war message rings upon sympathetic ears across America.
Several years earlier, the film might have been denounced as ‘un-American’ but now, on the ramp of the Presidential election, the film seems to rally the spirit of war weary Americans.
The anti war genre has been populated with horrific images and brutal examinations of the atrocities of war; films like “Full Metal Jacket” and “Apocalypse Now” make us vividly aware that war is not a natural state for the human mind.
Haggis takes the idea one step further, taking the location of the film out of Iraq the story concerns an old vet, played by Tommy Lee Jones, whose son returns from Iraq and goes missing over the weekend. Eventually, he turns up dead, chopped into pieces and then burned, leaving almost no recognizable form.
Jones joins reluctantly with Charlize Theron, who plays a local detective, who clashes with the military detectives, looking to conduct their own investigations.
Haggis wrote the part for Clint Eastwood, who refused to act again, but the role is superbly suited for Jones, who has taken some glee in letting his face weather and crack, showing pained lines, making his stony face mirror the hardened soldier he portrays. Jones’ character dedicated his life to the Armed Forces, and he doesn’t see the ways that the military life has affected him. his sons grew up to be soldiers, his relationship with his wife has always been terse and strained, and Jones himself is compelled to follow a strict routine despite the fact that he’s a free man.
The title of the movie refers to the story of David and Goliath, who fought in the valley of Elah. David Denby from the New Yorker points out the significance of the title, which Jones’ tells to Theron’s son as a guide for conquering monsters
“In the Valley of Elah” promotes the anti war stance with good intentions. there’s very little preaching, no longwinded soliloquies, but the movie becomes increasingly ham handed as we draw to a conclusion. It’s not quite predictable, but you can feel it coming: America has become the monster, the one to fear Haggis makes this point over and over, finally bludgeoning the audience with some unnecessary scenes which almost scream the message at the audience.
Despite the flaws of the story, the film is carried on the backs of the cast, which flesh out the movie without detracting. Roger Ebert comments that movies usually paint secondary characters with artificial colours, seeking to make them memorable.
“In the Valley of Elah” is heavy stuff to watch before bed, giving you dreams of torture and pain. Haggis wants to remind audiences that the horrors of war are not limited to the war zones. once the fighting stops, what do we do with an entire population of men, trained to kill and taught to forget the sense of regret and remorse?
I say: Compelling drama and the fascinating investigation make this a very easy movie to watch, though it gets dark and horrific at times. It’s hard to laugh after a movie that tries so desperately to scare you with the terrors of war.
See it for: Haggis threw in several scenes of Jones investigating his son’s disappearance, including a few strip clubs, where surgically enhanced women parade in front of jeering, hollering soldiers. It’s not sensual at all, instead appearing like a banquet of pigs in “Animal Farm”.
Also, Josh Brolin, the man in 2007, has a small role as the head of the police department he’s knocking out every role he takes on, and this one is no different is Brolin in danger of being typecast?
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