Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #496 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-05-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Notch up another great role for Tommy Lee Jones here, as his starring performance in the lead of In The Valley Of Elah is a further acting performance of real merit. And this from the man who has already recently added the equally excellent No Country For Old Men to his CV.

In The Valley Of Elah, however, is a very different beast. It’s the new film from writer/director Paul Haggis, he who previously brought us Oscar-winner Crash, and Jones stars as Hank Deerfield, a man who decides to take matters into his own hands when he finds out that his son has disappeared. However, what complicates matters is that Deerfield’s son is a soldier on leave, and the military are proving to be little help in getting to the bottom of the mystery.

Yet there’s far more to In The Valley Of Elah than that, even though its narrative is interesting and surprising. No, there are real layers of drama here, and none more obvious than those surrounding Jones’ character (the lead actor, incidentally, snagged a richly-deserved Oscar nomination for his work here). He’s an understated, yet brilliant, creation, and one quite wonderfully brought to life. In conjunction with Susan Sarandon as his wife, and Charlize Theron as the detective he enlists the help of, In The Valley Of Elah emerges as one of the most unfairly overlooked films of recent times, and one that’s ripe for discovery on DVD. A superb piece of work. --Jon Foster

DVD Description
Synopsis

"Your son is missing." It’s the phone call every soldier’s father dreads. What Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) had never thought to fear was that this call would come when his son was home in the U.S., on leave from service in Baghdad. Facing military indifference to the disappearance, Hank decides to take matters into his own hands and discover the truth about what’s happened to his son. With the reluctant help of police detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), Hank embarks on a journey that will bring him up against the closed ranks of the armed forces and the harsh realities of modern warfare.

Written and directed by Academy Award ®- winner Paul Haggis and starring three Academy Award ®-winning actors – Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon – alongside James Franco, Josh Brolin and Jason Patric, In the Valley of Elah is the powerful story of one father’s search for the truth.

Customer Reviews

War...whats it good for ? Absolutely nothing .
Anyone who has seen director Paul Haggis Oscar winning movie Crash [2004] [2005] ( a worthy but heavy handed drama on race relations for those that haven't seen it) would be forgiven for expecting more of the same from In The Valley Of Elah. However writer and director Haggis has delivered a far more subtle examination of war and it's effects on those who have to fight them. In this he is helped considerably by terrific performances from a stellar cast.
Retired army officer Hank Deerfield ( Tommy Lee Jones) receives a phone call to tell him that his son recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq has gone AWOL from his army base. Leaving his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) behind this stoical man sets off in his pick up to see if he can shed any light on his sons disappearance. Has the lad just gone off with a woman for the weekend ? , has he actually done a bunk or is there something more sinister behind it?
When a dismembered and badly burnt corpse is discovered near the base a laborious and meticulous investigation begins with Hank eliciting the help of local law enforcement officer Det Emily Saunders ( Charlize Theron ) a single mother also struggling with the endemic sexism of her workplace and the jurisdictional politics of the case.
Here we have a film with an agenda but this gradually unfurls as Hank clinically discovers his sons fate. We see this through his eyes as he views mobile phone footage from Iraq and discovers that the system and life he has admired and followed all his adult life ( its pertinent that we see him still carry out his army rituals - creasing trousers, tucking in his bedding etc) is implicit in his sons fate. That in fighting a stupid war thousands of miles away America is f***king up a generation of young men .(several of the young men playing soldiers in the film had actually served in Iraq)
Many will find In The Valley Of Elah far too ponderous . The film like it's main character takes its time in getting where it is going . Neither is Hank the most engaging character but Tommy Lee Jones gives a superbly nuanced and reined in performance ,his craggy visage rarely betraying too much .Lee does his acting with his eyes and it is especially effective in the scenes where Hank discovers shocking truths or has to confront the consequences of his sons fate head on
Okay the symbolism is a little too heavy handed at times -and the David and Goliath metaphor left me a little puzzled -something about facing up to monsters? But the final conclusion that a nation cannot expect to send young men off to war to do and see horrible things and then accept them back into normal society with no recriminations is difficult to argue with , especially as this film is based on a true incident.

The effects of war
Hank Deerfield (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is a retired veteran and military police officer searching for his son who has gone AWOL. Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) becomes interested in the case and starts helping Hank outside of her job. When Hank's son's body is found, the search suddenly turns into a search for the murderer.

Tommy Lee Jones gives one of his best performances as a relentless, humourless driven father, who has not been the best father, but doesn't rest until he finds the closure he desperately needs on the matter of the murder of his son.

Susan Sarandon was totally underused in the part of Hanks wife, but the little we are shown of her is riveting.

Charlize Theron plays down her beauty and gives what we've come to expect from her - a great performance.

But "In the Valley of Elah" isn't an action packed, fast paced search for a killer. Instead it's a deep and meaningful look at the effect that the war in Iraq is having on the soldiers it sends back home. In that regard it's not for everyone. Its not an easy film to watch, and perhaps it shouldn't be. Although it works as a mystery, the movie is much more a character drama. Paul Haggis has followed his Oscar winner "Crash" with another film similar in tone. Both are concerned with violence and humanity, but "Elah" does not use any of its characters as "Crash" seemed to.

"a real grown up movie"
There are plenty of reviews regarding this fabulous film so I'll keep it short. Proof that real grown up movies are still made in the west. Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron are superb. Buy it!!