In the Valley of Elah (2007) Tommy Lee Jones delivers another must-see performance in this film that deal with the aftermath and on-going investigation of a soldier’s death during the Iraq war. Seen by many as just another in a long line of anti-war films, I found something much deeper. This is the story of a man (like so many others in his situation) who is willing to go to great lengths to discover the truth of what happened to a loved one, in this case his son, during a terrible time in our nation’s history.
In a variation, his son’s body is found burned just outside the military base he was stationed at on US grounds. A very good supporting role by Charlize Theron as a cop who becomes deeply involved in the investigation and by Susan Sarandon as the mother of the dead soldier help aid the film, but this is ultimately a Tommy Lee Jones film, and he is a master at conveying his emotions through facial features and body language. I don’[t like to compare this film to any other in the war genre, as I feel it cheapens it for what it is, which to me, is just a very personal story of a man trying to figure out the truth of his son’s death, and why so many other people just seem not to care.
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