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A gung-ho ex military man gets word that his son, a soldier in Iraq, has gone AWOL. The film's plot follows the father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, as he sets about trying to find out what happened. Most of the characters here are either military people or local cops.

The story is heavy on mystery and investigation. The father's research skills are more potent than those of some local cops. Subtle plot twists and red herrings throughout keep the story's outcome uncertain until the end.

Based very loosely on a real-life event in 2003, the film's back-story pertains to the war in Iraq. Because of the controversial nature of this war, some viewers will read into the film a nefarious political agenda, dismissing it as propaganda. In point of fact, the motivation that led to the real-life event is, to this day, still shrouded in mystery.

Production values are generally high. The film has terrific, detailed production design. Sound quality is near perfect, which, when combined with the absence of background music in some scenes, enhances a sense of realism. Film editing is reasonably good, though a number of scenes could have been edited out, as they are either unnecessary or a tad confusing. If one is not privy to the film's point of view, the ending is slightly ambiguous, especially with regard to motivations of certain characters. An added line or two of dialogue could have added clarification.

Acting is wonderful. Tommy Lee Jones, with his weather-beaten face, is convincing as a tough, patriotic American military dad. Charlize Theron is satisfying as a frustrated local cop. Even minor roles are well cast. Kathy Lamkin, in a small role, couldn't be any more realistic as the impersonal, haggard manager of a fast-food restaurant.

I found "In The Valley Of Elah" entertaining as a mystery. The terrific casting and acting, along with high production values, render a film that is both realistic and highly believable.

'War is hell' but perhaps it is the postwar that is most telling. At least that is the thesis of Paul Haggis' latest film, In the Valley of Elah, a story of a father's quest for his son that reveals some bitter truths about war. Not an easy film to swallow upfront, it is certainly one of the best films of the year.

A grizzled, former military policeman, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), is notified that his son, Mike, is AWOL after returning from the fighting in Iraq. What begins as a methodical search for his son's whereabouts becomes more tragic and clashes with local police and military brass. Where is his son, and what do his soldier buddies know about one fateful night near their base? And what if anything did happen to him in Iraq? These questions are answered in small pieces and with alarming implications. Hank's skills at police work help convince local Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) to take charge of the case despite the doubts of her own colleagues and the military, led by investigator Lt. Kirklander (Jason Patric). Mike's PDA has garbled video that begins to paint a disturbing picture of the war front. Hank's search takes an emotional toll on himself and his wife (Susan Sarandon). He and Emily form an uneasy alliance, and, amid theories and suspects, what emerges is an ominous portrait of war veterans on the homefront. Ultimately Hank comes face to face with a disarming truth about his son's fate and the possible involvement of his military brethren.

The story is based on actual events in 2001 in Tennessee, and its title references the mythic tale of David and Goliath set at a time when the rules of engagement were different than the present. Its sparse, simplistic structure of a mystery peppered with flashback video and imagery may seem on surface like an independent film, but its message and execution is on a grander scale and not merely with dialogue. With effective visuals, much is conveyed by silence, expression, or simple body language.

As with other Haggis films, things that seem ordinary and insignificant at the beginning have implications later on. Though not as overtly obvious with connecting a myriad of dots as in his Oscar winner Crash, the threads are all there to gradually weave together. It is refreshing that the jurisdictional conflict between local police and the military does not take a stereotypic turn of heavy handed conspiracy and cover-up even though the military investigators are not cast in the best light. It shares a similar feel with the recent Courage Under Fire where the truth is unearthed in small bits until a bigger picture emerges. A couple of minor plot points go nowhere such as Hank meeting an old comrade who may have connections with military intelligence.

As grandiose and flamboyant as was his Oscar–winning turn in The Fugitive, Tommy Lee Jones' acting here is equally underplayed; he is magnificent. Through the pain and guilt that creep over his lined features, you also feel his suffering, his loss, and understand his bitterness. His Hank is a proud man, a patriot, who wants the truth. The truth ultimately changes him forever. Equally up to the challenge is Theron, in a strong performance, whose detective is a single mother who must battle her own squad and superiors while trying to solve a mystery. Even Sarandon's brief moments are affecting as the long distance wife. The rest of the cast is very good; they become real people.

This is not simply the readjustment to the homefront done magnificently in The Best Years of Our Lives or the heavy use of dramatic love triangle to condemn the Vietnam War in Coming Home. Rather, it takes the concept of a given war and allows it to become the ultimate villain in an increasingly sordid mystery. Its ending calls to mind The Deer Hunter but with a more pessimistic bent. It most certainly vilifies the effects of war on its men.

It is significant that a passing quote, "We all do stupid things," says something about not just the horror of warfare, but what such conflict does to its soldiers, and how they become soulless monsters capable of the most brutal of crimes. This is a brave, imperfect film that sets a somber tone and never lets up. The final image is a statement that makes this perhaps the subtlest of antiwar films ever. Oscar nominations can start here with picture, direction, screenplay, and the duo of Jones and Theron. While not everyone will be willing to let the story unfold with its nuanced direction and understated acting, those who are patient will find a moving tale of innocence lost and corrupted.

The big movies about the Vietnam war -- Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket -- didn't reach the screen until about five years after the war ended. But movies dealing with Iraq and terrorism are cropping up all over even as this war still rages.

What exactly that means is hard to know, but it would seem to indicate that no matter which side of the issue they come down on, the filmmakers are willing to risk alienating about half the potential audience in an America more polarized today than at any point in our history.

"In the Valley of Elah" treads lightly on the politics for most of the movie, concentrating on the unfolding mystery of what happened to a young soldier who vanishes shortly after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. Looking for answers are his father, a former sergeant in the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, and a young female civilian detective, who gets involved in the case, gets bounced off in a jurisdictional dispute, but winds up back on the case when its determined the crime took place off military property.

While director Paul Haggis gets uniformly good performances out of all the characters, the movie belongs to Tommy Lee Jones as the grieving father and Charlize Theron as the determined detective. Both turn in outstanding performances. Jones shines, playing a man who has spent his life holding in his emotions and can't change now, even as his world falls apart. Theron radiates strength as a woman trying to survive in a sexist police department where all her male colleagues are certain she slept her way into her detective's job. That is somewhat important to the story, because the movie provides a look into the lower class white community that provides the bulk of the recruits in the all volunteer army.

None of this really deals with the politics of the war, though, and it is not until the very end of the film that politics come into play, and even there, it is handled with great care. The message is more about the kind of war America finds itself fighting today and what that type of combat does to the men who engage in it. Unlike world wars one and two, Vietnam and Iraq are not wars between easily recognized enemies. We are not battling the Germans or the Japanese. In both Nam and Iraq, Americans find it is difficult to tell friend from foe. That means they often must make snap decisions that sometimes determine whether they themselves live or die. Needless to say, their decisions also determine the fate of the people in the sights of their weapons..

"In the Valley of Elah" does an excellent job of showing that post traumatic stress syndrome is not an oddity, but rather a growing problem in an army of young men whose job requires them to be quick on the trigger.

Every American should see this movie and then think long and hard about it.

Released in 2007 and directed & written by Paul Haggis, "In the Valley of Elah" is a crime drama/mystery inspired by the real-life case of Richard T. Davis. The story revolves around an elderly Tennessee couple (Tommy Lee Jones & Susan Sarandon) who get word that their son has gone missing from his base in New Mexico shortly after his return from Iraq. A retired military investigator, Hank Deerfield (Jones) goes to the base to find out the awful truth. Charlize Theron plays the civilian detective near the base who tries to help Hank while Jason Patric plays the Army counterpart. Josh Brolin is on hand as the town police chief.

This is a slow-burn mystery highlighted by great acting by the principles, especially Jones, and a thoroughly realistic story, which isn't surprising seeing as how it's based on true events. Speaking of which, I was surprised to find out that the basic details of the story are all accurate. The actual events took place in the Fort Benning area of Georgia rather than the fictitious Fort Rudd, NM.

The movie's not anti-Iraq War, but rather anti-PTSD; it merely reveals the awful truth about war in general: When we send our young men off to far-off lands where brutal warfare is normal they can bring that desensitized mentality back with them where the barbaric behavior that might be acceptable in war is anything but normal or conducive to a successful life, to say the least. Add the idiocy of alcohol abuse to the mix of PTSD and the results almost certainly WON'T be good.

The title refers to the valley where David, as a teen, fought and defeated the utterly intimidating Goliath from 1 Samuel 17.

ADDITIONAL ACTORS: James Franco, Wes Chatham, Jake McLaughlin, Mehcad Brooks and Roman Arabia play soldiers who knew Deerfield's son while Frances Fisher has a curious cameo (you'll know what I mean).

The film runs 121 minutes and was shot in Whiteville, Tennessee, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Morocco substituting for Iraq.

GRADE: B

Only Roger Ebert and the reviewer for Rolling Stone seem to see the truth here: this film is slow and elegiac because it deals with heavy matters, but it is never boring, not if you understand the situation and the depth of feelings being explored. It's as if reviewers don't get it because they didn't really feel what the film is saying. Saying that there have been dozens of films about how war ruins men so it's a cliché, and that this one is too dreary and slow means that a person has stopped feeling for what is really hurtful, is even in denial. And that's the theme of this film: what happens when we lose touch with what's painful and don't care any more. The film is restrained but powerful, which is why it has such a strong effect.

Jones is wonderfully grim, with a face like a road map, as he explores what happened to his son. Charlize Theron is beautiful even though she is playing a woman who is forced to act as non-sexy as possible to get on in her job in a male police force. Susan Sarandon is not, as some critic said, "underused"; she gives a performance that is all the more powerful because it is restrained. This movie should be a must see for all who believe that the Iraq war should continue until there is an honorable time for America to leave. That time is already passed.

This movie deals with the serious business of war and what it does to people.

It also deals with the anguish of parents, and how they try to deal with loss. When all is gone and there seems no point carrying on.

As well as this there is the military and how it deals with its image and the fragility of the men it must use.

The ex military father tries to find the truth behind his sons death. Despite him feeling he could do a better job than the police. Even he is caught out by the truth.

The movie is slow, and serious, and even disturbing at times. However, it always keeps you interested, and is a good watch; if you are in the right mood for it.

Sound: Just simple sound editing and sound track use here. 60/100

Technical: Nice use of cell phone video. Use of simple location sets. 70/100

Narrative: Standard crime investigation film. It moves a little slow and meticulous like a real investigation and Tommy Lee Jones' character does. Flows with logic then we get a twist at the end. 60/100

Character/Acting: Very well acted; Charlize Theron and Tommy Lee Jones draw a lot of sympathy and they both arc well; and in ways we do not anticipate. This is the strong point of the film. 90/100

Did I like it: Yes, my sympathies for the characters and the mystery solving kept my interest. 70/100

Artistic merit: There are better films that deal with the effects of war on soldiers and their families, but looking at these issues in a criminal investigation is a different approach. 70/100

Total score 70/100

This movie is just about perfect. I love how it starts as a genre movie and then transcends into something deeper and soul-searching. Some people just don't like Paul Haggis, but I'm not one of them. I think he's very smart here; he has no political point of view, he handles Charlize Theron perfectly, and the movie forces everybody to think about the troops in a way that isn't simply political rhetoric. I love that Tommy Lee Jones feels the way so many dads do. He's never been better. Watching the police work happen is interesting on it's own, but I like that Charlize Theron is just out to do the job correctly and just shrugs off the chauvinism coming at her from her department. The movie could've gone somewhere with that, but instead just quietly lets us in on it and moves on.

There have been many very good movies the last few years about Iraq-related themes, but I don't think there is a film that captures the feeling of the national mood as good as this one. It's drained of melodrama and just sort of moves forward on really good performances of the whole cast, who all act according to their natures instead of because of stupid plot requirements.

"In The Valley Of Elah", Paul Haggis' worthy directorial follow up to his Oscar winning movie "Crash", is only a reasonably good thriller, but hits it's stride in much the same way as "Crash", as an exploration of the current state of the American psyche. The Iraq war itself is a character in this movie and casts a giant emotional shadow over everything that happens.

What has the Iraq war done to America? How has the conflict affected the emotional state of the young men and women involved in the war? What will be the final cost, to a generation of Americans, of Iraq? Top notch performances from Tommy Lee Jones as a serious, grave and dignified ex-soldier trying to find out what happened to his son, and also by a glammed down Charlize Theron as a single mother and detective, sidelined and dismissed by her male colleagues. In fact, not a bad performance by anybody in the cast, even if Susan Sarandon as Tommy Lee Jones' wife is a little underused.

"In The Valley Of Elah" is haunting and powerful and has a stark final image that speaks volumes.

I have watched this movie about 3 times in the past 2 years, the first time was while I was in Iraq for my second time. This movie has motivated me to get onto the Internet, come here, register, and post this.

This movie is such an insult to me by the way it depicts the U.S. Army. The ice cold barracks, the fellow soldiers you cannot trust or respect, the unchecked sadistic nature of these soldiers. It's war hating, soldier disrespecting propaganda. It was bad enough without the upside down American flag. Yes, if the state of U.S. Army was actually as it is displayed in this movie, then yes that scene would be fitting, but this is not true.

While active duty in the Army for over 5 years, a junior enlisted to sergeant in the ranks, in the 3rd infantry division, and 2 year+ deployments to central Iraq under my belt I think this movie is a pure crock of you know what. And no, I'm not a right wing bush voting war monger.

Was this movie dramatic enough to hold my interest? Yes. But for this bleak world around a military base to be depicted as truth and honestly is absolute crap. I have never seen so much dreariness anywhere in the U.S. Army. I don't know how to go on with words, I Just want to put the word out there that fictional depictions of life, like portrayed in this movie, do far more harm than good.

Post traumatic stress does exist, it has taken a while for me to stop missing being deployed, I missed the camaraderie, my buddies, and the excitement of deployment life, and no it was not about baby killing and slaughter. The issues that this movie is supposed to represent should be out there, and they are, but this ridiculous portrayal is a disgrace to those who serve, and care, and try to be honorable on a daily basis.

At times this low-key soldier murder-mystery story touches upon very fertile, topical ground, informing viewers in confrontational ways of the pervasive black hole currently known as operation Iraqi freedom (hauntingly brief cell-phone images interspersed throughout the film remain the most vital imagery to be found and a welcome contrast to the film's too-relaxed pace). Sadly the main focus shifts from the horrors of our youth in battle to a tidy, unnecessary, and even mildly irrelevant detective procedural.

Suffering from a minor form of identity disorder, In the Valley of Elah is too somber and emotional to keep the detail-intensive mystery balanced, and too top-heavy with superfluous detail to be the Spiritual/Political manifesto it dabbles in. By the time a final plot twist occurs as this lukewarm mystery unfolds, viewers will have invested more in the sub-plot's reality based observations then the half baked revelation, (itself leading to hardly anything worthwhile).

While the film may be flawed as a whole, many individual scenes retain a muted power, exemplified best by the increasing contours around Tommy Lee Jones's face, a stoic actor and noble, if not utterly commanding lead presence that helps hold the film's emotional depth in place. Paul Haggis follows up his award winning and immensely popular Crash by shaving off some production fat for what will amount to a lesser embraced film (as much for a perceivable anti-patriotic agenda as it's lackluster thematic equations), perhaps to his artistic credit-as clumsy his direction can sometimes be, we are still treated to moments of sublime observation.

There are many people out there who hate the way Paul Haggis made his directorial debut, "Crash," an overly soapy and stupidly-tied-together drama (at least, that's what it felt like to them). Those people don't have to worry. His second major directorial outing, "In the Valley of Elah," avoids both of the "mistakes" (although I'd hardly call them that, seeing as he won Best Picture for what he did with "Crash") that he made last time around. Instead of mixing together multiple stories and having them all connect at the very end, this movie revolves around one main story, a story that seems a lot like the modern-day war version of "Chinatown." Instead of going for simple emotional tugs that he did with "Crash," this film focuses on its understated performances, namely from Tommy Lee Jones, who is superb in this film. It is truly courageous of Paul Haggis to be willing to make some serious changes to the style that won him a Best Picture Academy Award, and even more impressive that he pulls it off very well.

The story revolves around an ex-military officer, Hank Deerfield, who is told that his son, a soldier returning home from Iraq, has gone missing. Jones plays the character in such a quiet way that makes you feel like he thinks he shouldn't be showing emotion, but has a lot of it bottled up inside of him. When he arrives at the military station, people don't seem to want to tell him what happened, and say that they expect he'll come to the base anytime soon (this is portrayed especially well by James Franco, who you may know as Harry Osbourne from the "Spider-man" movies).

Refusing to believe that it's as simple as that, Deerfield is relentless in getting information out of people as to what really happened. It's the way he functioned in the army, and it benefits him greatly as he has to get any information he can out of people. Enter Detective Emily Sanders (played by a very strong Charlize Theron), who at first just wants to get through her job for the day, but soon gets wrapped up in also discovering what really happened to Deerfield's son. The two of them have great chemistry together, as their two different personalities give two different perspectives on what's happening.

The movie works because although it does have quite a few negative things to say about the current war in Iraq, the entire film isn't a two-hour tirade against it. It only makes that message part of the story, and does it in subtle ways (aka the soldiers don't just go "War...it...destroys...you..." but take a lot more time expressing their emotion). Much of the story works like a mixture between the great film "Chinatown" and a much better-acted, better-written version of a really good episode of "CSI." Although there may be a few too many twists and lies circling about, it comes to its conclusion very well in a satisfying way for the audience.

Paul Haggis has an uncanny way of bringing out great performances from all of his actors. The performance of Tommy Lee Jones could be the best of his career, he brings out a much more emotionally quiet side in Charlize Theron than we've before seen, the short performance of Susan Sarandon is particularly powerful, and all of the soldiers are played with a feeling of sincerity. The acting is probably the strongest element of the film, and if there's any "weak part," it would have to be the way Haggis forced out some of the plot twists to make the film as long as he wanted it to be.

Regardless of its few problems, "In the Valley of Elah" is both a very well-mannered look at the war in Iraq and its effects on the people involved, as well as a very interesting crime thriller. At the heart of it is Haggis's quietly powerful directing style and the cast's powerfully quiet performances. I don't see this picking up a Best Picture nomination as Haggis's past three Oscar hopeful screenplays ("Letters from Iwo Jima," "Crash," and "Million Dollar Baby"), but I would not be surprised to see it pick up a few acting nominations as well as possibly a screenplay nod. If it does...it would have definitely earned it.

I'm confused. What exactly was the point of making this film? Epics such as Apocalypse Now informed and intrigued while comedies like Good Morning Vietnam brought some humanity to an otherwise horrific historic tragedy (though tragedy is clearly an understatement). The Valley of Elah, meanwhile, focuses on a disaster still very fresh in out minds: Iraq.

The importance of the American flag may hint at patriotism, but Director Paul Haggis' interpretation of the US Army proceeds to squash any notion of pride. Over 121 minutes I was continuously reminded of all the evil going on in the world; war, death, torture, inequality. The clever use Hank Deerfield's (Tommy Lee Jones) AWOL son's mobile phone footage allowed very real and disturbing war images to regularly take over the screen. As if we haven't seen enough real evidence of the corruption and inhumane treatment during "the war on terror" – or what ever excuse they're using these days.

You'd have to be severely cold hearted not to shed a few tears – but rather then the result of superb directing or intricate insightfulness mine were because I was reminded of how much unimaginable suffering the war has caused to millions. Personally, I'd rather spare myself the anguish.

That's not to say the cast were anything but great. Charlize Theron's well practiced strong woman character, Emily Sanders, was as believable as ever while Jones was perfect as the all-American ex-Army dad. Susan Sarandon didn't disappoint either, though it's a shame we see so little of her. And a fantastic performance by the relatively unknown Wes Chatham as Corporal Steve Penning and Jake McLaughlin as Spc. Gordon Bonner. It's just a shame that this film doesn't really know its purpose. I doubt it's trying to encourage new recruits, nor did I feel inspired to try and stop the fighting.

If Haggis wanted to show things as they really are then I'm afraid his timing couldn't be worse. Wait until the troops have left, let us heal a little, before attempting to analyse and interfere.

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I just saw this film and consider it to be one of the best anti-war films I've seen in quite a long time. And that makes me wonder at what the various critics are thinking. Roger Ebert gets it right, but some film critics are far too dismissive of a very serious, important film. James Berardinelli, in particular, seems curiously _angry_ that this film depicts the moral degradation of war in a frank and honest fashion.

Berardinelli is basically wrong in every single thing he says about the film. Since this film is not a "politcal message" film, it has no requirement to "show both sides equally". It is a story about a group of soldiers basically driven beyond the area of traditionally human behavior. Berardinelli thinks that it's "obvious" that war changes the way people feel about their country.

I sense a person utterly detached from history when I read that. A recent study concluded that the English were, as a group, fairly happy during WWII, even when their nation was under attack. Why was that? Because they believed in what they were doing. The notion that war _necessarily_ results in moral breakdown is, while hardly novel, also not true. That is part of what is important about "Elah". Jones' character is a veteran of the Vietnam war, and is hardly a delicate flower when it comes to the matters of war and its effect on the psyche. And yet even he is floored at what the Iraq war has done to the soldiers.

It is easy for a film critic to simply reject what is essentially reporting on the state of the military today. That Berardinelli does so with such vitriol makes me guess that he is injecting his own bias into the review.

And with the war still on, the theme of PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - is topical and relevant. Shell shock, they used to call it. It is more than shells these days, of course - it is the killing of children and innocents which has an appalling and destabilizing effect on the young U.S. men and women soldiers engaged in Iraq.

Paul Haggis who has made Crash amongst other good films, tackles this difficult subject with sensitivity depicting the dehumanization of the soldiers who come home to an indifferent populace.

Hank Deerfield (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is a retired Vietnam veteran who investigates the disappearance of his son and comes up against the brick wall of military police. A sympathetic detective, Emily Sanders (played by Charlize Theron) slowly takes an interest in the case and negotiates with her superior officer to take the case back from the military police who want to brush it under the rug. When Mike Deerfield is found, dismembered and scattered, Hank commits himself to getting at the truth.

This film is not an anti-war effort but rather the facts are all presented, and one is left to come to one's own conclusions.

Tommy Lee Jones gives one of his best performances here, a relentless, humourless driven father, who has not been the best father, but doesn't rest until he finds the closure he desperately needs on the matter of the murder of his son.

Susan Sarandon was totally underused in the part of the mother of Mike, but the little we are shown of her is riveting.

Charlize Theron plays down her beauty to the degree that she wears bandages and bruises on her face through many of the scenes and ignores the rampant sexism of her unit. A great performance.

I didn't care for the Valley of Elah metaphor which is at the core of the movie itself. The David and Goliath story did not have a relevance to a story of PTSD and the horrific effects it has on both perpetrators and victims. So I am left puzzled at this symbolism. A little guy taking on a giant? Who would be the little guy? The Iraqis?

However, that vexation aside, for overall tension and the sheer watchability of Mr. Jones in a meaty role, this movie gets an 8 out of 10 from me.

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In 2004, in Munro, Tennessee, the former Sergeant and owner of a tow truck Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to contact his son Mike (Jonathan Tucker) in Fort Rudd after a period serving in Iraq. However, he is informed that his son is missing in the base and has become Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL). Hank drives to the base to search his son and after an interview with the military staff, he is not convinced of the answers; then he goes to the police precinct telling that Mike is a missing person. However, the jurisdictional conflict between the Army and the police associated to a lack of interest in the case leaves Hank in limbo. Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) feels sympathy for Hank and together they investigated and discover dirty little secrets with an impressive case of dehumanization caused by the invasion and consequent war in Iraq.

"In the Valley of Elah" discloses a sad story of dehumanization of human beings as a side effect of a senseless invasion of a millenary country "to bring democracy", and the most impressive is that it seems that this story was based on a true event. The footages of a destroyed Iraq; the sequences of the boy hit by the Army truck and the dialog of the soldiers; the description of the sadistic torture of an injured person; the dehumanization of the brutal and alienated soldiers under drug influence; and the feelings of Hank expressed by the upside-down flag in the end of the story, make the viewer think about the effects of this invasion in the population of Iraq that lost families, properties, jobs and sees their lives destroyed by invaders without a minimum preparation to deal with their ancient culture and parents, families and friends of the soldiers. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "No Vale das Sombras" ("In the Valley of the Shadows")