In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Director:

Paul Haggis

Writers (WGA):

Paul Haggis (screenplay)
Mark Boal (story) ...

Release Date:

28 September 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it.

Plot:

A career officer and his wife work with a police detective to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Plot Keywords:

Ethnic Slur | Wife | Military Officer | Cover Up | American Flag

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Tommy Lee Jones	...	Hank Deerfield
Charlize Theron	...	Det. Emily Sanders
Jason Patric	...	Lt. Kirklander
Susan Sarandon	...	Joan Deerfield
James Franco	...	Sgt. Dan Carnelli
Barry Corbin	...	Arnold Bickman
Josh Brolin	...	Chief Buchwald
Frances Fisher	...	Evie
Wes Chatham	...	Corporal Steve Penning
Jake McLaughlin	...	Spc. Gordon Bonner
Mehcad Brooks	...	Spc. Ennis Long
Jonathan Tucker	...	Mike Deerfield
Wayne Duvall	...	Detective Nugent
Victor Wolf	...	Private Robert Ortiez
Brent Briscoe	...	Detective Hodge

Also Known As:

Death and Dishonor (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violent and disturbing content, language and some sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Sweden:11 | France:Unrated (with warning) | Ireland:15A | Canada:14A | Australia:MA | Argentina:16 | South Korea:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | USA:R | Finland:K-15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Singapore:M18 | Japan:PG-12 | Austria:16 | Taiwan:R-12 | Germany:12 | Denmark:11 | UK:15 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Blackfriars Bridge Films

Trivia:

Originally a potential starring vehicle for Clint Eastwood.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Hank, a truck driver, reads an email discussing a "weigh bill." The proper term is "waybill."

Quotes:

Evie: Mustard or mayonnaise?
[Hank looks up and is taken aback to see that the waitress is topless]
Hank Deerfield: Um... no thank you, ma'am.
Evie: Woman stands topless in front of you, "ma'am" could be taken as an insult.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The O'Reilly Factor: (2008-04-02)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

SHU44LE

confused by reviews

I just saw this film and consider it to be one of the best anti-war films I've seen in quite a long time. And that makes me wonder at what the various critics are thinking. Roger Ebert gets it right, but some film critics are far too dismissive of a very serious, important film. James Berardinelli, in particular, seems curiously _angry_ that this film depicts the moral degradation of war in a frank and honest fashion.

Berardinelli is basically wrong in every single thing he says about the film. Since this film is not a "politcal message" film, it has no requirement to "show both sides equally". It is a story about a group of soldiers basically driven beyond the area of traditionally human behavior. Berardinelli thinks that it's "obvious" that war changes the way people feel about their country.

I sense a person utterly detached from history when I read that. A recent study concluded that the English were, as a group, fairly happy during WWII, even when their nation was under attack. Why was that? Because they believed in what they were doing. The notion that war _necessarily_ results in moral breakdown is, while hardly novel, also not true. That is part of what is important about "Elah". Jones' character is a veteran of the Vietnam war, and is hardly a delicate flower when it comes to the matters of war and its effect on the psyche. And yet even he is floored at what the Iraq war has done to the soldiers.

It is easy for a film critic to simply reject what is essentially reporting on the state of the military today. That Berardinelli does so with such vitriol makes me guess that he is injecting his own bias into the review.