Review of In the Valley of Elah (2007) by Stuart K — 10 Mar 2013

Written and directed by Paul Haggis (Crash (2004) and The Next Three Days (2010)), this was based on a true life case, which was taken from an article by Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker (2008) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012)).

It is a thought provoking thriller, which gets under the skin of what really went on during the Iraq War, as well as keeping it very close to home, and how war never ends when you get back. Vietnam war veteran Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) and his wife wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) are told that their son Mike (Jonathan Tucker), a soldier fighting in Iraq, had returned home but vanished shortly afterwards.

Hank goes Mike's army base to find out more, but Mike's dead body is found burned and mutilated in the desert. The local police's investigation is blocked by military officials, who claim it was caused by "drug-related violence".

Hank knows that's a lie, and he starts his own investigation with Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), and they discover a complex web of secrets and lies that led to Mike's death. It's very well made, and it has some good performances too.

It does get a bit preachy when it gets down to whether the US invasion of Iraq was right or wrong, but it does work while it lasts, and it's a much better film than Crash (2004) was, and more gripping and interesting too.