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All Movie Info
Starring:
Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Brent Briscoe, Josh Brolin, Mehcad Brooks, Chris Browning, Barry Corbin, Wayne Duvall, Frances Fisher, James Franco, Rick Gonzalez, Loren Haynes, David House, Sean Huze, Zoe Kazan, Kathy Lamkin, Judy Marte, Jason Patric, Susan Sarandon, Arron Shiver, Glenn Taranto, Jonathan Tucker, Z. Ray Wakeman, Wendy Worthington, Paul McGowen, Josh Meyer, Dan Strakal, Karen M. Hudson, Laurie Johnson, Jennifer Siebel, Victor Wolf, Wes Chatham, Devin Brochu, Joseph Bertot, Devin Brochu, Jake McLaughlin, Jack Merrill, Jeff Mocho, Brandon Weaver, Pab Schwendimann, Babak Tafti
Directed By:
Paul Haggis
Written By:
Paul Haggis, Mark Boal
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In the Valley of Elah (2007)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
September 21st, 2007
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'In the Valley of Elah' takes it title from the biblical site where David fought Goliath, and maybe that has some symbolic or metaphorical significance in this new film from Paul Haggis, a screenwriter of remarkable talent, who shows that he possesses extraordinary directorial abilities, as well, with this and with Crash, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. Tommy Lee Jones is magnificent. This is one of his best performances. He won an Oscar for The Fugitive back in the early 90s, and certainly must garner a nomination, if not a win, for what he gives us here, as Hank Deerfield, a Vietnam vet who goes searching for his missing son, Mike (Tucker), recently back from Iraq. Sarandon is terrific as Joan, Hank's wife, who has only about 20 minutes or so of screen time, but is memorable nonetheless, in a crucial role that is full of raw emotional power, as she comes to terms with the fact that both of her children have died as soldiers, maybe because of their father and what he used to be. Yeah, Mike is dead.
Hank identifies his body, or what is left of it, and tries to find out what happened, with or without the help of a city cop named Emily Sanders (Theron), who has a son of her own, much younger, and feels Hank's pain. This is another amazing turn from Theron, who suppresses her stunning beauty once again, and plays an ordinary woman with ordinary looks. She and Jones share some wonderful moments together, just talking to one another, there is not a pretense of romance or anything of that nature, just two great actors exchanging superbly written dialogue with one another.
At its heart, I suppose it is a murder mystery of sorts, and it has some intriguing and perplexing elements and dimensions to it, but it is also a first-rate character drama, which is what I typically expect from Haggis. The movie is not overtly political, and takes no cheap shots at the Bush administration ( as tempting as that may be, especially considering that Sarandon, Theron, and probably everyone else in the cast and crew are Hollywood liberal types), it deals simply with the gravity of loss, which one could find in any war, among soldiers' families, and the constant worry that they come home alive and in one piece.
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