Get Out More.............................Film Review

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH (15, general release)

29-01-2008

Tommy Lee Jones is Hollywood’s man of the moment. No Country For Old Men earned him plenty of plaudits, but In The Valley Of Elah could win him an Oscar. Paula Elenor has now seen him in both.

Prompted by message-boarder Sean Harris following my review of No Country For Old Men last week, I decided to see In the Valley of Elah for myself - this movie has already picked up Oscar nominations, in particular for Tommy Lee Jones for Best Actor, and on the evidence of this heart-wrenching performance, he may well be on the way the winner’s podium.

This is a very different film from No Country For Old Men. Interestingly, Tommy Lee Jones takes the main role in both films. Each of his characters, Sheriff Bell in No Country… and Hank Deerfield in In The Valley…are forced to re-examine their core values of patriotism and decency. Both characters are or were law enforcement officers in a desperate hunt for truth and justice.

However, here the similarity ends. Writer and Director, Paul Haggis, presents a sobering story of personal grief, patriotism and dignity. Tommy Lee Jones plays Hank, a father whose son, recently returned from a tour of Iraq, who goes missing. Has his son gone on a bender –AWOL - or is something more sinister going on?

Hank, ex-military police and army man through and through, is by nature distrustful and is not put-off the track by an obstructive military establishment. The combined skills of the seasoned veteran and diligent Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), bring the investigation to a harrowing conclusion. It is a traumatising experience for both.

In the Valley …may lack the wit and virtuoso panache of the No Country For Old Men, but it certainly does not lack emotional intelligence.

Everything - the writing, the performances, the cinematography and the direction - work well to tell a powerful and painful tale of personal grief and disillusionment. The sombre story is intensified by its careful pacing, the use of de-saturated colour and the use of long and medium shots intensifying the loneliness and pain of Hank.

Long, empty corridors give a sense of an alienated, cold institutional world which sucks up the young raw recruit and spits him out at the other side, literally and metaphorically chewed up.

I disagree with some commentators who claim that the film is about personal and not political issues. Haven’t they heard the old adage: “the personal is political”?

The title of the film – a reference to David and Goliath - and the key recurring motif of the American Flag is symbolic and quite provocative. Follow the meanings through for yourself, but I certainly do believe that the film is political.

Sean, harking back to my review of No Country for Old Men, please note that Hank (the father) is a veteran of Vietnam and his son, Michael, is an indirect casualty of the Iraq conflict. The story continues…

To see Paula’s review of No Country For Old Men click here

To see the In The Valley of Elah trailer, click here youtube link

Have you seen In The Valley Of Elah?

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