Paul Haggis is a fine American film-maker. He has written screenplays for critically acclaimed “Million Dollar Baby”, “Letters from Iwo Jima”. His sophomore directorial venture “Crash” (2004) reaped three Oscars (including Best Picture) and drawn mixed feelings among critics and American audiences. On one hand, Haggis’ “Crash” was hailed for interweaving a powerful message about racism, whereas the others accused Haggis for giving a short-sighted, blatant message on tolerance. Yeah, I too felt that Haggis often waves that message flag in front of our face, and his one-note characters also didn’t provide much nuance. In the recent years, Haggis has involved himself with pretty forgettable projects like “The Next Three Days”, “Third Person”. But, Haggis looked like a more mature film-maker with his psychological drama “In the Valley of Elah” (2007). Despite an Oscar-laden cast, it’s neither the regular award-baiting, ‘patriotic’ American movie nor a tawdry anti-war manifesto.
“In the Valley of Elah” was based on American journalist and
writer, Mark Boal’s factual article “Death and Dishonor”. Although the story outline
resembles a murder mystery, it is a composite study on the psychological
effects of war on the American soldiers. The movie’s subject also gains enough
prominence because of the central, taciturn style of performance from Tommy Lee
Jones. The film starts with Hank Deerfield (Lee Jones), a former military
police, receiving a phone call from a military base in Mew Mexico. The caller
informs him that his son, Mike (Jonathan Tucker) has gone AWOL after a tour of
duty in Iraq. It’s distressing news for Hank because he didn’t even know that
Mike is back from Iraq. Although Hank doesn’t seem like a very communicative
dad, Mike seems to have regularly sent his dad e-mails or photographs.
Hank leaves behind his distraught wife (Susan Sarandon) at
home and drives to military base. On his journey, he sees the American flag
hoisted upside down. He calls the janitor and says, “Do you know what it means
when a flag flies upside down? It’s an international distress signal. It means
we’re in a whole lot of trouble so come save our asses ‘cause we ain’t got a
prayer in hell of saving it ourselves”. At that point, we could guess, at least
Hank’s life is on the path of distress. Few days later, Hank receives news
about his son, whose body was found in a field near the military base (stabbed
42 times), burned and dismembered. Although the local police finds the body,
they are happy to give it to Army investigators when they come waving the words
‘jurisdictional authority’.
The truth neither side gives a damn, except for detective and
single mother Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), who is persecuted by her peers for
being a female. As a mother she feels empathy towards Hank’s situation and
finds enough clues to prove that the murder of Mike has happened in their
jurisdiction. The military hands back the case, even though they seem to be
concealing something. Emily and Hank trudges through red-herrings and
misdirections to find the truth behind Mike’s death. In the tumultuous
investigation, Hank also gets to know what war did to his son.
There are investigative scenes that echo CSI episodes and
there is an alleyway chase of a criminal that doesn’t belong to this movie, but
to a large extent, Haggis has weaved the script with subtlety and hasn’t been
manipulative in contriving the emotional scenes. When Hank speaking to his wife
through phone about his son’s death, you don’t see her wailing and thrashing
except when she says, “Both of my boys Hank! You could’ve left me one”. But,
then you see a top-angle shot where the phone is on the ground, the table
toppled, and there are items scattered around the place. So, here Haggis instead
of walking us through the regular emotions of bereaved mother, he provides
glimpses into the character’s past and their nature (“Living in this house, he
never could’ve felt like a man if he hadn’t gone” (to army)). Haggis and Tommy
Jones wonderfully stages the way in which Hank would handle his son’s death. As
Hank knows the practices of military, he easily judges what news waits for him
when he is a greeted by a soldier in his motel room. Such nuanced reactions are
what make this a quiet engrossing film.
Spoilers Ahead
The title and central
theme runs around the story of David taking down (with slingshot) Goliath in
the valley of Elah. But, here the tactics of the king by sending a little boy
David into battle is questioned. The Davids represent the inexperienced, young American
soldiers fighting American’s government devised ‘war on terror’. The Goliath
here is not the Iraqis, but the government itself which creates such hostile
situation and pushes the soldiers to bring a false sense of peace. Half-way
through the movie, Hank tells the David/Goliath story to Emily’s son and we
could easily draw comparisons to the present situation. But, once again Haggis
doesn’t harshly wave the allegory into our faces. If there is one overly
dramatic gesture, then it must be Hank’s final action, which is sort of a
political sermon, but apart from that the film remains thoroughly effective.
The performances mostly stay true to the characterizations.
Eventually, Hank doesn’t preach that ‘war is hell’ because as a military man he
wouldn’t denounce what he had done in his past years. He is only bereaved by
the way soldiers’ psyches are scarred. The movie could be perfectly called as a
subtle exploration of war-induced trauma (although the word is never mentioned)
rather than an ‘anti-Iraqi War story’. Trauma hovers around the soldiers’ eyes
in each of their interactions, and that itself provides a clue to Mike’s death.
For those, who view the film as a murder/mystery, the final twist may seem very
simple, but I felt it was formulated impeccably. You are confused why Mike
would be pissed off and fight with his fellow soldier (and meet his death),
when the guy says ‘what a good driver Mike is’. Later, you get to know what the
‘driver’ comment really means, and why Mike is enraged. These subtle
enlightening moments plus the whole mystery is built to ask ‘why’; not ‘who’.
It’s an onerous question because no one, including the killers, is depicted as a
monster. So, unlike the ‘so-called’ patriotic progaganda films like “Black Hawk
Down”, “The Kingdom”, “Lone Survivor”, or the recent “American Sniper”, Haggis
remains apolitical.
The movie’s powerhouse themes would have withered away
quickly if not for Tommy Jones’ unforgettable performance (he was aced in the
Oscars by Daniel Day Lewis’ towering performance in “There will be Blood”). The
quiet, reserved, and emotionally scarred character is quite with in the range
of Tommy’s roles, but he infuses a lot of nuances into ex-M.P. Hank, especially
in the way he shines his shoes in the morning or the way he follows his
instincts. Charlize Theron as the pestered detective plays her role with enough
depth. She remains empathetic to Hank’s plight rather than being pitiful.
“In the Valley of Elah” (121 minutes) is a compassionate and
thoughtful look at the ravages of war on the soldiers’ psyche. It doesn’t come off
with the regular American patriotic or anti-war sermons.
Trailer
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