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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 24 January 2008

Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon as bereaved parents seeking the truth from the US Army

America's war on truth

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Directed by PAUL HAGGIS
Certificate 15

ELAH, in case you are wondering, was the location of the Biblical struggle between David and Goliath – but the symbolic significance in this suspense thriller set in a US military base is not immediately apparent.
US marine Mike (Jonathan Tucker), fresh back from Iraq, goes AWOL, and his superiors pay a call on his father Hank (Tommy Lee Jones), himself a retired military cop.
They inform him and his distraught wife (Susan Sarandon) that if their son isn’t back in base in a few days he will be reported missing, with dire consequences. This sends Hank off to the army base in New Mexico to investigate his son’s disappearance, where he is reluctantly aided by a fellow officer (played with crisp efficiency by Charlize Theron).
The charred remains of a mutilated corpse are discovered close to the camp, and identified as Mike – and now Hank starts to ask questions. Did the culture of US soldiers in Iraq somehow lead to his son’s untimely death?
The clues build up. Originally dismissed as a drugs killing, it slowly becomes apparent that Mike’s own comrades may have had a role in his grisly murder. But why? This is Elah, one man against the Goliath military, and an unexpected story of intrigue and double-dealing emerges.
The ever-watchable Tommy Lee Jones is outstanding as the bereaved father who won’t give up, paying a terrible personal price to uncover the truth.
A proud military man, he berates a neighbour hoisting the Stars and Stripes in his garden the wrong way up. “Do you know what it means to fly this flag upside down?” he demands. “It’s the international distress signal, and means we’re in a lot of trouble and don’t have a hope in hell of saving ourselves.”
In a moving climax to a slow-burning but engrossing murder mystery, we see him hoisting the flag in his own garden. Upside down.

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