Nella valle di Elah

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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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.

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.

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

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.