Movie Review: In The Valley Of Elah

Summary: There be spoilers in this review.

Let me start with an admission. I'm outrage fatigued. The war in Iraq is a bloody awful shambles and it's a bad bad thing. But HOW MANY times do I need to be shown that war is bad by some sanctimonious film?

Look, this film has good points, chiefly how great every single acting performance in it is and Roger Deakins always genius cinematography - but it has one huge annoying factor, and that's the fact that it is manipulative to the point of ridicule.

Let me give you an example of the heavy handed symbolism. TLJ (good as ever) is driving off to his sons air force base to investigate the boys disappearance. ON his way out of town he spots something - OH MY! It's the American flag! And it's been flown upside down! Turns out the guy responsible is from El Salvador and knows nothing about how to fly a flag (the immigrants angle covered then) and after reverently reflying the flag and admonishing the guy, TLJ says quite disingenuously that a flag flown upside down is the international cry for help. A sort of "we're in deep existential crap" sort of thing. Crikey - that going to come up again at some point in this movie, Tommy? Or did you improv that little gem?

I really don't want to wail on this movie too much, since its heart is in the right place. It is trying very (too) hard to be even handed, but painting your leading man in such broad strokes as a sort of flag waving god fearing pro war ex army christian, is just obviously baiting the audience to applaud how "realistic" a view of the human effects of the war on terror this is. oooh... look! This guy is saying even us good god fearing pro war guys are ok guys - he even got TLJ to play the stereotype! WOO! How very "unhollywood" of him. Well, screw that for a lark. They even have him up against "less pro war" detectives and other army types to contrast the miniscule differences between their take on things.

Again, the film is supposedly trying to take a view on the current situation, but mental damage to soldiers has been going on since the concept of war began ("wibble!"). Best film example? Apocalypse Now, of course!

Look, it just put me off with its incessant balancing of one side against the other - there's clearly a story to be told here, but this isn't the plot that the acting deserves and the whole "iraq angle" just gets in the way. There's no reason for it to be set when it is (bizarrely three years before it was made) - it could be set in the first gulf war, or the vietnam war, maybe even the second world war - the Iraq conflict is used here, in my definite opinion, to market the film as a commentary on our current situation. And it's just NOT!

The outcome of the story is also a letdown, the mystery being resolved very quickly and with the pathetically predictable rebringing up of the "nation in crisis" upside down flag job again.

And it's a gift from his dead son this time!

OOh.. really emotional.

All it takes to turn a pro war guy into a less pro war guy is for that war to indirectly kill his sons.

Wow - controversial. Bet that had the studio heads worried.

I think this is a very safe movie masquerading as a controversial one, a sort of "world trade centre" with the main character from Afghanistan and having a line about how this isn't what all the Afghans want - "Not all of us are out to destroy America" perhaps, as he saves the life of the hero while sacrificing his own.

For another example - in the section about David and Goliath that gives the film its name, they even bring out that the David and Goliath story is "even in the Koran" - a revelation that may have some of the more slack jawed surprised, but just seems another symptom of this films malaise. Actually, this is a really weird metaphor - who's David and who's goliath in the America vs Terror debate? The film's ending seems to place the individual soldier as David, against the Goliath of international terrorism. A poor choice of metaphors for me, since

In conclusion, In The Valley Of Elah is hamstrung by its sense of importance and desire to be even handed about the war on terror.

And it's not even about the war on terror.

A

P.S. I make no apology for this review focussing on only one or two aspects of the film, since the aspects in question (the framing and message) are clearly crucial to the vision behind it. Complaints added via the comments form. Thanks.
P.P.S. I do apologise for the spoilers.