Jim3k
10-04-2007, 03:27 AM
First, let me say that I have been thinking about In the Valley of Elah for several days, having seen it over the weekend. I’ve been bothered by several things. I now think I’ve put my finger on it. It is one of those movies where the acting quality far outruns the story or message that the director, Paul Haggis (who co-wrote), is putting into play.
This movie was written as a warning to the nation that the Iraq debacle has costs that are unacceptable. Those costs include the mental health of our boys who have soldiered there. It also includes the blindness of the Nation as it fails to see that its values have been undermined by the fact that the war has no real American purpose. It is a war, according to the director, which has had the result of severely damaging American values – those of honesty, fair play and the righting of unjust circumstances. Instead of creating heroes, this war has damaged those who fought and who have come home to face the fact that what they have done is contrary to what they thought they had joined the military for. Instead of fighting a legitimate enemy, they have caused the deaths of children in the name of … well, what?
That message is a bit pedantic and if set forth straightforwardly would not be much of a movie. This movie sees those things through the eyes of a soldier’s father, played by Tommy Lee Jones. Jones sees the things his son has seen through the recordings on a camera-phone. He sees them through the eyes of his son’s platoon mates. He sees them through the callous indifference of the Army.
Since Jones plays a retired military policeman, he knows that things have gone wrong. He is, in a sense, inured to them, except that since his son is the victim, his professional protection has been stripped away to reveal – almost through his face alone – an awful sadness and realization that nothing can be made right. He is, in the final analysis, a father who can do nothing about what he has correctly perceived. In that sense, Jones’s performance is a high acting triumph. For that reason I can recommend the movie.
But his fine performance, and that of his co-star Charlize Theron, is badly undercut by what is essentially a TV script. The storyline is simply not worthy of much beyond a CSI episode. The director uses flashbacks to try to fool us into thinking it has more depth. But, it is only a device to hide the story’s shallowness. We are led to think there is more to the mystery than there is – essentially a murder wrought from the torn psyche of returning soldiers. Indeed, the solution is predictable and unsatisfying from a storytelling standpoint.
If you see this movie, go because of Jones. His performance makes the movie work as well as it does. Yet I can’t really recommend it, since it is so thin. I did like Theron and Susan Sarandon’s performances. Even so, I thought TV actors could have filled in for them. Jones, on the other hand, really stands out.
This movie was written as a warning to the nation that the Iraq debacle has costs that are unacceptable. Those costs include the mental health of our boys who have soldiered there. It also includes the blindness of the Nation as it fails to see that its values have been undermined by the fact that the war has no real American purpose. It is a war, according to the director, which has had the result of severely damaging American values – those of honesty, fair play and the righting of unjust circumstances. Instead of creating heroes, this war has damaged those who fought and who have come home to face the fact that what they have done is contrary to what they thought they had joined the military for. Instead of fighting a legitimate enemy, they have caused the deaths of children in the name of … well, what?
That message is a bit pedantic and if set forth straightforwardly would not be much of a movie. This movie sees those things through the eyes of a soldier’s father, played by Tommy Lee Jones. Jones sees the things his son has seen through the recordings on a camera-phone. He sees them through the eyes of his son’s platoon mates. He sees them through the callous indifference of the Army.
Since Jones plays a retired military policeman, he knows that things have gone wrong. He is, in a sense, inured to them, except that since his son is the victim, his professional protection has been stripped away to reveal – almost through his face alone – an awful sadness and realization that nothing can be made right. He is, in the final analysis, a father who can do nothing about what he has correctly perceived. In that sense, Jones’s performance is a high acting triumph. For that reason I can recommend the movie.
But his fine performance, and that of his co-star Charlize Theron, is badly undercut by what is essentially a TV script. The storyline is simply not worthy of much beyond a CSI episode. The director uses flashbacks to try to fool us into thinking it has more depth. But, it is only a device to hide the story’s shallowness. We are led to think there is more to the mystery than there is – essentially a murder wrought from the torn psyche of returning soldiers. Indeed, the solution is predictable and unsatisfying from a storytelling standpoint.
If you see this movie, go because of Jones. His performance makes the movie work as well as it does. Yet I can’t really recommend it, since it is so thin. I did like Theron and Susan Sarandon’s performances. Even so, I thought TV actors could have filled in for them. Jones, on the other hand, really stands out.