In the Valley of Elah

As many Bible scholars undoubtedly know, the Valley of Elah is the venue of the historic battle between courage and intimidation, the battle between David and Goliath. In director Paul Haggis’ (who won best picture in 2005 for the film “Crash”) latest movie, Tommy Lee Jones plays a deeply religious man caught in a valley of despair as he tries to pick up the pieces of his son’s tragic demise.

The movie follows Hank Deerfield’s (Tommy Lee Jones) attempt to find his son, a military soldier who has recently returned stateside from a tour of duty in Iraq. Back from Iraq, he has been reported missing by his military commanders. Hank and his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) instantly know that something is not right with the disappearance of their upright, by-the-numbers son. Hank, a former military man himself, leaves their Tennessee home to pursue his own investigation and find his son.

During the pursuit, Hank runs up against resistance from both the army as well as the local police force who refuse to issue a “missing persons” report since the missing person is property of the army. While attempting to get the report made, Hank is passed along to Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron). Sanders is sympathetic to Hank, but explains that since his son is a military officer, it is out of her jurisdiction. Hank presses the guilt card by insisting that it is because his son is serving in Iraq that he should be treated better.

Shortly after Hank leaves, news comes to the station that remnants of a body have been found in the desert. The burnt remains are identified as those of Mike Deerfield, Hank’s son.

Detective Sanders meets Hank and apologizes for the loss of his son, as well as her treatment of the situation. Hank persuades her to take him to the scene of the crime. It is at this juncture that the search changes from looking for his son to finding out how he came to die.

The movie does have the typical amount of swearing by the military personnel as well as the profanity of the police force. There isn’t a lot of actual on-screen violence, save a couple fights and beat downs, most of the violence is seen after the fact in gruesome post-mortem shots of dead bodies in Iraq battles. The scenes at the morgue and the police crime scenes display post-mortem material that may be unsettling to some.

There is no sex, but a few scenes of nudity—firstly, as the camera tracks through the army barracks and showers of the men’s military base. Audience members should definitely be warned of the trips that Hank takes to a couple strip clubs while investigating his son’s death. The first one comes fairly early in the movie and kind of pops up from nowhere, so be advised, when Hank says he’s going to a club and you hear the music start to gear up be prepared that he’s about to step into a strip club where about a half dozen women are dancing around and shaking their merchandise. The second trip comes around the end of the film and is not as long or revealing.

The performances from the entire cast are great, and the story is compelling as it weaves this tragic story of one soldiers’ tragic fate.

The film is rated R and has a running time of 124 minutes.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Heavy