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Film Review
‘Elah’ peppers father’s search with political commentary
It is customary for filmmakers to let some time pass before depicting major world events on the big screen. Movies about war, for example, don’t often come out until at least a few years after the war is finished.
Paul Haggis has decided to break this convention with his latest film, “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent), which depicts events and provides commentary on the current Iraq war.
“In the Valley of Elah” is disturbing. It depicts members of the U.S. Army who are spiritually, mentally and morally destroyed by their experience fighting in Iraq.
Continually making reference to how “it’s different over there” and not-so-subtly hinting that this war is more inhumane than others waged before, Haggis — the writer and director of the film — makes his opinion of the Iraq war abundantly clear.
While the obnoxiously apparent political views of Haggis anchor the pace of the film — President Bush and others reporting progress in Iraq plays over radios and televisions throughout — “In the Valley of Elah” does have great dialogue and acting.
The film, which is hard to watch at times, goes deep into the potential humans have to become morally corrupt. If the viewer can focus on the moral commentary — which is only shown through some of the evil depths of immorality — and look past the political agenda, the film is quite good.
Tommy Lee Jones stars as Hank Deerfield — the father of a soldier who, at the outset of the film, should have returned from Iraq. However, his son Mike is AWOL, so Deerfield leaves his wife, played perfectly by Susan Sarandon, to go find him in the area surrounding the army base.
Soon after his arrival he finds out his son was murdered and teams up with local police detective Emily Sanders, played by Charlize Theron. The army is not offering information and Deerfield, a retired soldier, is determined to find out exactly what happened to his son.
Jones is spectacular as Hank Deerfield, a former soldier who has never truly left his army training or state of mind behind. He polishes his shoes every night, creases his pants on the side of a motel dresser and dresses in crisp, white button-down shirts every day.
It is fascinating to watch Jones’ portrayal of a man who values nothing more than his country — that he and his two sons fought for — slowly change as the truths of his son’s life and death are revealed to him. By the end, this former soldier still maintains a deep love for his country, but he feels that the country he loves is in “a state of distress.”
Although Haggis works hard to hit the audience over the head with his political messages, there is a deeper set of moral messages that lie trembling beneath the surface of “In the Valley of Elah.”
Named for the valley where David battled Goliath, the Biblical tale plays prominently as a metaphor for the struggle Deerfield is engaging in with the army and the reality of what war did to his son.
He obtains his son’s cell phone and is able to salvage the video from the device. Each video shows his son becoming progressively more violent and less humane. The truths (according to the film) behind the clips of cell phone footage are appalling. The effect the war has on the soldiers is very apparent.
St. Augustine said, “We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace.”
The Catholic Church is clear on this preference for peace. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states plainly, “All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.”
In an ideal world there would be no wars and, therefore, no negative effects on the well-being of the men and women fighting in the battle.
However, recognizing that war is bound to occur in our corrupt world, the Church only explicitly speaks out against the unjust waging and corrupt practices of war.
God’s plan never includes war, but when it happens, it must be fought for eventual peace if it is to be just.
By the end of their duty in Iraq, Deerfield’s son and the men in his battalion were not fighting for the prosperity of peace. They were machines that were not encouraged to talk about or deal with the gruesome and scarring realities they faced at a very young age.
Still, if people leave the film focused on ending the war in Iraq, then they have missed the point.
Haggis’ soldiers are good men turned corrupt by what he believes is a bad war. Although politics are an unavoidable force in the film, the way evil can slowly seep deeper and deeper into a person’s life is what any audience member should walk away with.
Rebecca Bostic is a regular contributor to The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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