In the Valley of Elah

“In the Valley of Elah” is not entertainment. It is not an action film, it is not a detective movie. It is an outstanding film about a father looking for his boy, who has gone missing after returning from the war in Iraq.

The acting is supberb. Tommy Lee Jones is understated as the father looking for his soldier son. We are so used to his smart dialogue in other films, here his face tells the tale. Charlize Theron is quite believable as the police detective aiding in that search, and Susan Sarandon owns every one of the few scenes she is in.

Early in the movie, as Jones sets out on his search, he comes upon a school employee of foreign origin who has run the U.S. flag up the pole upside down. Jones educates the man with a soliloquy that requires attention. Listen to his words, to his quiet passion, his love of country.

The movie grinds on in places. It heads full speed at a cliché or two, swerving only at the last minute, especially with Theron’s relationship with her fellow police officers. But the film never loses its believability, the bad guys are not always so bad, the good guys never that good.

We don't find out until halfway through the movie, during a casual conversation in a diner, just how significant the loss of the missing son might be. A lesser director would have played that card, that of the second son, much earlier in the film.

Emotionally, this movie is quite graphic. Not in the blood, guts and gore sense with which so many movies indulge themselves, in that ever-escalating game of overcoming the sensibilities of the audience. Not in the superficially manipulative way that directors of lesser talent whipsaw our emotions.

This movie is emotionally graphic because the emotions are so real, and so honest. Sarandon gives us a mother's loss that will be hard to forget, that should not be forgotten.

Some will see “In the Valley of Elah” as a political film. It actually celebrates values while taking a good look, and makes no apology. “Elah” shows the nobility of the soldier, both active and retired. Tommy Lee Jones, as Hank Deerfield, loves this country, he has sacrificed for this country.

“In the Valley of Elah” helps us understand that war matters. It matters to all of us, it matters to the boys and girls we send to fight in places like Iraq, where the enemy may be hiding behind a child playing in the street. What we ask our young fighters to do has an impact on them, and on us, our culture, our great nation.