The filmmaker behind the Oscar-winning melodrama about race in America, “Crash,” turns his unabashedly progressive socio-political point of view toward our involvement in the Iraq war with “In the Valley of Elah.” Director-writer Paul Haggis uses the crime procedural genre as the framework for his study of how destructive this particular war has been on our individual soldiers and, through them, the larger nation. It sets out to unravel the mystery of a young veteran of the conflict who disappears within days of his return home.
In so doing, it eventually intimates that this war has been somehow unique in how it has turned our baby-faced innocents from raw recruits into callous perpetrators of institutionally sanctioned atrocities who bring their irreparably damaged psyches back home to wreak havoc on the rest of us. But isn’t that what can happen in the wake of any war, not just this one? Haggis frankly proposes that the brutality and disorder coming out of Iraq is, for example, specifically worse than what came out of Vietnam. (Didn’t he ever see, say, “The Deer Hunter”?) He sometimes seems more intent on pointing fingers regarding the already unpopular Iraq war than on honing a tight narrative that works outside of the important issues it raises.
But to the auteur’s credit, he has chosen and customized a fascinating case. It is supposedly based on the real-life stabbing death of Spc. Richard Davis in 2003. And despite how lethargic the pacing is here, we get swept along to the extent that we do thanks to Tommy Lee Jones’ disciplined yet heartbreaking performance as the father of the missing soldier and a deep bench of vivid supporting players.
By calibrating his craggy face even a half-crag in measured close-ups, Jones communicates volumes as retired Vietnam vet Hank Deerfield, who travels to his son’s base to get to the bottom of what has happened to him. The distraught but determined father enlists the help of local police detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron). She’s a sensitive single parent not respected in her department who has her own reasons for suddenly taking an interest in the muddled investigation of what turns out to be an especially vile felony. Hank and Emily find themselves in the middle of a jurisdictional mess, with military authorities doing their best to minimize the potential public relations mess. Fingers soon point back to events that took place back on the front lines with the missing man’s unit.
Susan Sarandon (in a surprisingly small role as the anguished mother), Jason Patric, James Franco and Josh Brolin round out what turns out to be a fine acting showcase. When “Valley” peaks, it’s most often due to that.
‘In the Valley of Elah’
***
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones,
Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon
Director: Paul Haggis
Rated R for violent and disturbing content, language and some sexuality/nudity
Running time: 121 minutes
