IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH |
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When Manny sacks a recently-pregnant waitress from his restaurant, Chef José takes the day off to ease her pain. | score 4 |
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| Cast Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon Director Paul Haggis Screenwriter Paul Haggis Country USA Rating / Running Time MA / 121 minutes Australian Release February 2008 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2008
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
Chopped
down by David’s slingshot, Goliath fell in the Valley of Elah; a
minor yet significant note in this resonant thriller from the director
of Crash. Hank Deerfield
(Jones) is a forthright and determined military father who demands
answers about his missing son. He quickly learns the young soldier was
killed in an unspecified incident after his return from Iraq; an
incident few people are willing to talk about, least of all the US
Army. Director Paul Haggis is not the retiring type and fills his riveting drama with a tangible sense of fear and grief. Back-stories about family tension play from a distance while upfront he charts the scars of institutional immorality. Hank travels to his son’s army base and secures the help of Detective Sanders (Theron) who also suspects a cover-up. As they approach the truth, they begin to expose a distressing fallout from America’s war on terror, a psychological malaise with unmeasurable consequences. Clues to the murder of Hank’s son are hidden in damaged video on the boy’s mobile phone. Not only does it piece the narrative together, Haggis uses it to link past and present, father and son, media and reality in a tense, often unpalatable, confrontation. Chaotic, almost meaningless fragments speak of broken, corrupted men and the fuzzy, disconnected circumstances of their world. It is a brilliant motif. Most significantly, Haggis shows no concern at being thought unpatriotic and his film is stronger for it. As The Guardian newspaper noted, The Valley of Elah marks a new low in relationships between Hollywood and the outgoing President – a view immortalised in the near-blasphemous closing shot. It is the best of many good reasons to see a film where barely a moment doesn’t ring entirely, unbearably true. // COLIN FRASER |