Film Review: In the Valley of Elah

In the Valley of Elah.  (2007) Written and Directed by Paul Haggis.  Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon   and Charlize Theron.

 A Missing Son

Retired soldier Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) is notified by the Army that his son Mike, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, has gone AWOL from his base in New Mexico. Hank immediately drives there to find him. What might have been a standard mystery thriller, becomes a meditation on life, death and the cost of war in this beautifully written and acted film.

 Even though he has been out of active service for some time, old habits die hard and Hank Deerfield is still every inch a career soldier. We watch him polish his shoes and carefully make his bed in the motel room where he stays off base. Memories of my father and the Army issue shoes he wore until his death, floated up as I watched this film. Mike has disappeared and the only trace left is his cell phone, which contains disturbing video images from Iraq. There is also the haunting memory of Mike’s last call home: “You gotta get me out of here Dad.” Shortly later Mike’s dismembered, burned body is found in a field not far from the base.

Unhinged by Grief

As he struggles to contain his own grief, Deerfield (Jones) must also deal with his wife (Sarandon) who has now lost two sons to the gods of war. When she asks to see the burned body of her son at the morgue, Hank tries to restrain her and she becomes almost unhinged,

(Mom) “I need to see him, I need to be with my boy!”

(Dad) “There is nothing left. Mike was the one who wanted to join up.”

(Mom) Both of my boys Hank! You could have left me one!”

Watching this scene is almost unbearable.

Foundations of a Way of Life Implode

Hank, a former MP and investigating officer, will not give up until he knows how his son was killed and why. He joins forces with a detective in the town (Theron) until the secret of the murder is uncovered –and it’s not pretty. Along the way, the videos on the cell phone provide important clues.

For this is, in fact, the story of the disintegration of young men in  a war they do not understand and were not prepared to fight. They are undone by it. One of Mike’s friends tell Hank (Jones) ruefully and almost despairingly, “You shouldn’t send heroes to a place like Iraq. You should nuke it and watch it turn back to dust.”

As he puts the pieces together, Hank Deerfield (Jones) also slowly begins to implode. We watch as this very strong man, who has lived his whole life believing in the institution of the military and service to one’s country, begin to question the enterprise that has been the foundation for his life. While the ending of the film, a set piece about the raising of the American flag, feels tacked on to me, the vivid portraits of loss painted by these superb actors, illuminate a grief that I can only intuit and let myself feel for moments at a time. What have we done?

Indeed, what do we continue to do?