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In The Valley of Elah
- a movie review by Starhawk
Sept. 11, 2007
Due to a series of
odd events and a couple of generous invitations, I was
able to see a new film at the Toronto Film Festival: "In the Valley of Elah."
Written and directed by Paul Haggis, who won an Oscar for "Crash," it's
a very
powerful and tragic story of the toll that the war in Iraq takes on those
who wage it. A young soldier, Mike Deerfield, goes missing on his first
weekend back from Iraq. His father, Hank Deerfield, played superbly by
Tommy Lee Jones, is a retired military man and investigator, and when he
sets out to find his son, one grim layer of truth after another is peeled
back. Mike, it turns out, has been brutally murdered. As Hank tracks the
murderers, he is both helped and hindered by Charlize Theron in the role of
a woman police officer with a young son whose sweetness and vulnerability
play off perfectly against Hank's toughness and bottled-up emotions. For
Hank, who truly believes in America and all it is supposed to stand for, the
horror of what has been done to Mike is slowly eclipsed by the horror of
finding out what his son has seen and become in Iraq.
"In the Valley of Elah" is not the Iraquis' story. That story needs
to be
told and heard, although probably Hollywood won't tell it. "Elah" is
a story
about Americans, told from an American perspective, aimed at an American
audience. But it is also a story we desperately need to hear, the
counterpoint to the drumbeats of endless war, for it faces us with the real
price of our militarism, and the real limitations of its power-that the
violence of war also destroys those who wield the weapons, and poisons the
society that sent them forth.
One of the pleasures of watching thrillers and mysteries is akin to waking
up from a bad dream. We all have secrets, things we're ashamed of and things
we fear being found out. When a fictional killer is tracked, his murderous
secrets revealed, we can squirm vicariously and then wake up with that
bright sense of relief we get when a nightmare proves to be only a phantom.
Whatever we might be concealing, generally it's not a corpse, and whatever
we've done, we probably haven't committed a heinous crime. Murder stories
put our sins and troubles into perspective.
But with this film, there's no easy waking. Because we are culpable. The
horrors are real, and they are still going on in Iraq, and all our efforts
have not stopped them. Whatever we have done, we've clearly not done
enough.
Go see this movie. Don't go alone-take someone with you, especially if
you're a veteran or you are friends or family of soldiers. Go this
weekend, if you possibly can, because the first weekend will be critical in
determining whether the film will get wider distribution and promotion, or
will go directly to DVD and be seen my very few. If it dies on the vine,
fewer movies with political content and timeliness will be made. If it does
well, doors will open for other films that take on important issues and open
up dialogue about them.
One of those issues is what we will do, as a society, for the thousands of
soldiers who will ultimately return home, carrying horrors within them-and
facilities to help are thin on the ground. Those who shout loudest about
supporting the troops are less than eager to fund their ongoing care and
rehabilitation. Our streets are still full of the broken, homeless relicts
of the Vietnam War forty years ago. What will happen to the new wave of
veterans in a flailing economy, under a regime that systematically defunds
and destroys every caring, nurturing role for government?
But mostly, go see "In The Valley of Elah" because it's really, really
good,
written with poetic economy, directed with an understated restraint that
strengthens the emotional impact of the story, and impeccably acted. It will
wring your heart with pity and terror as tragedy is meant to do. And if
enough people see it, it just might push the dialogue further toward peace.
Copyright (2007)
by Starhawk. All rights reserved.
This copyright protects Starhawk's right to future publication of her work.
Nonprofit, activist, and educational groups may circulate this essay (forward
it, reprint it, translate it, post it, or reproduce it) for nonprofit uses.
Please do not change any part of it without permission. Please keep this notice
with it.
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