Review of In the Valley of Elah (2007) by Joel M — 29 Sep 2008

I walk through the shadows of "In The Valley of Elah" and I see a melancholic film about a silently passionate father searching for his missing son who has just completed his tour of duty in Iraq.

I walk through the shadows of "In The Valley of Elah" and I see a powerhouse acting performance from the legendary Tommy Lee Jones portraying the father, Hank Deerfield. I walk through the shadows of "In The Valley of Elah" and I see admirable acting work from Charlize Theron playing Det.

Emily Sanders, the bullied female detective who helps Deerfield in his search. I walk through the wet dreams of "In The Valley of Elah" and I see Theron all naked telling me that she craves for my body.

Oops! OK, back to reality! I walk through the shadows of "In The Valley of Elah" and I see strong supporting thespian work from Jason Patric, James Franco, Susan Sarandon, and Josh Brolin (yes, him again!).

I walk through the shadows of "In The Valley of Elah" and I see Writer-Director Paul Haggis "crashing" in profound messages to the narrative on our government's disconcerting handling of the Iraq War and the lack of empathy there is for the soldiers' mental distress when they return back to the states.

I walk through the shadow of "In The Valley of Elah" and I see a good, but not great, influential film on a father's fixation to find his son and our government's lethargic attitude towards our soldiers' post-war psychosis.

So I do recommend for you to walk in the shadow of "In The Valley of Elah". **** Good.