In the Valley of Elah

I hadn’t heard about the movie, but my movie buddy recommended it based on her reading of favorable reviews. In the desert, there are some theatres that play limited releases, which In the Valley of Elah appears to be.

The cast is outstanding, including Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, and Charlise Theron in lead roles. The piece moves slowly and quietly to the climax and, at one point, I wondered how Charlise Theron’s character fit into the story.

The son of a career military man, long retired, is reported missing by the Army. Dad and Mom know that this behavior is not typical of their son, so Dad drives to the military base to find him. The story moves from one person, one event, to the next, ending (of course) with the Dad finding the answer to his question.

It’s a chilling narration centered on video tape found on the son’s cell phone. While he was stationed in Iraq, he filmed scenes of his daily life to show what he did, and took snapshots that captured what he saw. These films are bits and pieces that are mangled from intense heat, but a friend of the father’s is able to make them somewhat viewable and provides the Dad with evidence that keeps him focused on his search for his son.

What a powerful film. The most profound statements are often found in silence, and this film radiates silence. Often, Jones’ character simply sits and listens while others talk, and when he finds another piece to the puzzle of his son’s whereabouts, he picks it up and sees how it fits into the complete picture. Susan Sarandon is a “typical old-corps wife,” long-suffering and mostly silent. When she comes to the base to view her son’s remains, her comment to her escort is, “You don’t have any children, do you?”

In the context of the film, her comment is an arrow straight through the heart: the military has soldiers, not sons.

The film is not a commentary on the war in Iraq, but it is a biting condemnation of how the military treats its combat veterans. As one character says, “One day over there, the next day here. It’s crazy.” The lesson was taught during Vietnam about the mental anguish combat causes, an injury that is more traumatic and longer-lasting in some ways than physical injury. That conflict was 4 decades ago, and it seems that the lesson has been forgotten.

One character, the young wife of a military man, describes the death of the family pet, a Rottweiller, by a newly-returned Iraq warrior who grabbed it by the throat and drowned it in the family bathtub. When the wife asks for help for her husband, her concerns about his mental stability are brushed off. Because we aren’t proactive in dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, we are forced to become reactive when it rears its ugly head.

This is a powerful film, a thoughtful and thought-provoking film, a film I recommend regardless of an individual’s stance concerning the conflict in Iraq as that is simply the vehicle for the message. For me, the lasting question is how the parents will bury their son: as a warrior, or as a victim of a savage war that came too close to home.