In the Valley of Elah

"+ IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH caught me off guard. It's packaged as a crime procedural about an old army veteran (portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones) as he investigates the disappearance of his son at an army base, but its unfolding is that of an examination into the collective human discord. It takes place in post 9/11 United States when American troops were deployed to the war in Iraq. The sentiments of good guys versus bad guys seem to linger in the mindsets of the characters; Americans being the good guys, and Iraqis the bad. When the plot shifts from investigating a disappearance to a murder, we are led to believe that the sentiments of war will carry over into the mystery. Then the movie does something different: it questions how we make the distinction between "us" versus "them" by showing the war the characters are fighting within themselves. How easy it would have been to get to the end of the movie and see a clearly defined villain that we could collectively hate, but the filmmakers don't let us off that easily. It asks the question of why we go to war, and it leaves us to answer that question for ourselves. I think it suggests that the characters didn't bring the war home with them, but took it to Iraq where the psychological wounds became infected, making the casualty of war their very own humanity. Had the movie made it only about American troops, it would have been effective on its own, but this isn't a movie about just the American; it uses the American as a focal point for what happens when any human is confronted with war, in whatever form in which it might come. Not since I saw the movie INCENDIES have I been affected in this way, but this movie came out first. Every performance is flawlessly executed, the script is great, the pacing is methodical and in no rush to reach the end. There is a lot of movie in the first 45 minutes alone, and the rest of it is just as captivating. So much comes through with so little. Underrated gem of a movie."