| In the Valley of Elah [Blu-ray] | ![In the Valley of Elah [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WqycvZtAL._SL500_.jpg)
| Director: Paul Haggis
Actors: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, James Franco
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $35.99
Buy New: $14.93
You Save: $21.06 (59%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $12.99
Avg. Customer Rating:   (80 reviews)
Sales Rank: 5650
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray
Running Time: 121 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: 89978
UPC: 085391189978
EAN: 0085391189978
ASIN: B0011VIODW
Release Date: February 19, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: September 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Warner Brothers In The Valley Of Elah (Blu-ray)
In career Armyofficer Hank Deerfield's worldview, the American military exists to bring order to the world, and honor and dignity to every one of its soldiers. As played by Tommy Lee Jones, in a layered performance that will haunt the viewer long after the film is over, Deerfield wears the Army life like he doeshis standard-issue white T-shirts--unconsciously making a cheap motel bed with crisp inspection-ready corners. Yet if war is hell, the purgatory for the relatives of damaged soldiers can cause far more anguish, and Paul Haggis' quietly devastating In the Valley of Elah tells this story through Deerfield, who is desperately trying to piece togetherthe fate of his adored son Mike, a soldier in Iraq.
Mike's company has returned from duty, but heis missing; Hank flies from Tennessee to Fort Rudd in the Southwest, to conduct his own investigation into the disappearance. There he meets a smart but put-upon police officer (Charlize Theron, glammed-down but still showing a bit too much sexy collarbone for a cop) who also smells something off in the Army's official story of the disappearance. The two form an unlikely team, but as a friend tells Deerfield early on, "You gotta trust somebody sometime, Hank," and Mike's vanishing is Hank's tipping point.
As Hank pieces together the horrifying story of Mike's fate, the incremental pain becomes etched in Jones' ragged features, and the camera captures all of it--far more powerfully than could a million words of reportage from the front lines. Theron's performance is also strong, and Susan Sarandon is moving if underutilized as Hank's grief-stricken wife, robbed of the simple nuclear family life she so wanted. "They shouldn't send heroes to places like Iraq," says one of Mike's buddies lat
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In career Army officer Hank Deerfield's worldview, the American military exists to bring order to the world, and honor and dignity to every one of its soldiers. As played by Tommy Lee Jones, in a layered performance that will haunt the viewer long after the film is over, Deerfield wears the Army life like he does his standard-issue white T-shirts--unconsciously making a cheap motel bed with crisp inspection-ready corners. Yet if war is hell, the purgatory for the relatives of damaged soldiers can cause far more anguish, and Paul Haggis' quietly devastating In the Valley of Elah tells this story through Deerfield, who is desperately trying to piece together the fate of his adored son Mike, a soldier in Iraq. Mike's company has returned from duty, but he is missing; Hank flies from Tennessee to Fort Rudd in the Southwest, to conduct his own investigation into the disappearance. There he meets a smart but put-upon police officer (Charlize Theron, glammed-down but still showing a bit too much sexy collarbone for a cop) who also smells something off in the Army's official story of the disappearance. The two form an unlikely team, but as a friend tells Deerfield early on, "You gotta trust somebody sometime, Hank," and Mike's vanishing is Hank's tipping point. As Hank pieces together the horrifying story of Mike's fate, the incremental pain becomes etched in Jones' ragged features, and the camera captures all of it--far more powerfully than could a million words of reportage from the front lines. Theron's performance is also strong, and Susan Sarandon is moving if underutilized as Hank's grief-stricken wife, robbed of the simple nuclear family life she so wanted. "They shouldn't send heroes to places like Iraq," says one of Mike's buddies late in the film, and it's the viewers' collective sorrow--and the film's great achievement--to feel that at the deepest human level. --A.T. Hurley
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| Customer Reviews: Read 75 more reviews...
A Richly Textured Jones Performance Dominates Haggis' Post-Iraq Detective Story July 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have to admit it was with some trepidation that I finally saw this 2007 murder mystery directed and written by Paul Haggis. His last time doing double-duty was the polarizing Crash, an omnibus fable of LA-based race relations, powerfully acted but also a manipulative model of melodramatic contrivance. This time out, he is less patronizing because the storyline is more contained and based in fact. However, Haggis still shows the same need to stay topical, seek restitution for his characters and convey an undeniable sense of parable. These factors are what make movie-watchers either love his work or hate it for the way he often undercuts the credibility of the drama to make his points. Regardless, there is no arguing with the fact that Tommy Lee Jones gives a masterful performance of a man who can barely contain his grief under a veneer of old-school reserve. It's a gratifying continuation of the recently stellar work he has done in his own directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and the Coen Brothers' bleak No Country for Old Men.
Jones plays taciturn Hank Greenfield, a retired Army officer and ex-military cop who now hauls gravel in Tennessee. He receives word that his son Mike, a soldier just back from Iraq, is about to be reported as AWOL from his base in New Mexico. Immediately sensing something is not right, Hank leaves his concerned wife Joan at home and drives straight to the base to see if he can get to the bottom of his son's disappearance. He receives next to no assistance from either the military or the local police, who argue over whether it's a matter for the Army to resolve. Things change dramatically when a charred, dismembered body is found abandoned in a desolate field outside of town. Once it has been identified, Hank works diligently and fractiously with Emily Sanders, a sympathetic, overworked detective, to find out not only who the murderer is but what the reasons were for such a vile act of inhumanity. Naturally, they encounter an abundance of military red-tape, pervasive apathy from the local police force and a couple of red herrings before coming to a resolution.
Without giving anything away, I have to say the ending lacks a deep emotional resonance that would have made Hank's journey to know his son truly memorable. Instead, we find Haggis informing us how the day-to-day bloodshed in Iraq cannot help but impact the hearts and minds of those who make it home, a lesson one would have thought was made clear from Vietnam. Beyond the quietly nuanced work of Jones, a somewhat deglamorized Charlize Theron continues to prove she can be a fine actress in worthy roles like Emily (and not the comic-book dominatrix Aeon Flux). She fluctuates between strong and empathetic with impressive fluidity. In the understandably smallish role of Joan, Susan Sarandon barely has any screen time for an actress of her caliber, but she makes her couple of wrenching scenes count. Similarly powerful actors have been cast in relatively minor parts - James Franco as an officious base official, Josh Brolin as Emily's ego-driven chief, a nearly unrecognizable Barry Corbin (Northern Exposure) as Hank's old Army pal, and Jason Patric who is allowed to make of an impression as a poker-faced lieutenant who appears to be stonewalling the case. Frances Fisher has a thankless cameo as a topless waitress who provides one of the key clues in the case.
Except for a couple of unnecessary detours toward the end, Haggis has ultimately made less of an involving mystery and more of a dramatically effective "message" movie - not as heavy-handed as "Crash" but of a less arguable variety. The 2008 DVD offers no commentary track from either Haggis or Jones, a surprising omission, but there is a sobering 43-minute video diary of the production spotlighting a number of the actors playing the soldiers as well as the parents of the real-life soldier upon whom Haggis based his story. Also included is an "additional scene", which amounts to am eight-minute deleted subplot about Mike's unknown girlfriend rather absurdly named "Jennifer Lopez" for easy laughs. The laughs evaporate when we see she is a multiple amputee who began to see Mike's changing nature. Particularly fascinating is the variable use of green scene to hide her limbs.
 Pretty good, but... June 30, 2008
I thought this movie was well written and acted, but I found the resolution of the murder to be a bit unsatisfying and incomplete.
 An excellent, moving film June 30, 2008
Unfortunately, a great deal of the reviews on here are obvious examples of partisan views. I'm not going to try to tell you that I don't swing one way or the other in the political spectrum, but this film will your views regardless of your party affiliation. If you're a supporter of the war, you will be forced to reconsider the reasoning for it. However, the documentary in the special features section will raise guilt in those who have not supported the war. Soldiers returned from Iraq speak about how they expected to return to a society that understood the trauma that they had undergone. When in reality, very little has changed.
The overall message of the film is extremely powerful. For those interested in the cinematography, it
was as strong as nearly any film I've seen.
While your political views may not be in line with those that come across on the surface of this film, I urge you to give it a shot. Renting is always a good way to see if you like it before considering purchasing it.
Support our troops, ALL of them. June 29, 2008
This is a truly exceptional film, I didn't think I could like Tommy Lee Jones any more than I already do but he is really outstanding in this movie. I have to agree with the person who said it's depressing, it is. My heart ached after watching this and I didn't think I'd ever want to watch it again but I can't stop thinking about it.
I take exception to those who say it's nothing more than an anti-war, Bush-bashing, movie. Paul Haggis was inspired to write the screenplay after reading an article in Playboy ("Death and Dishonor" by Mark Boal, 2004) about Army Specialist Richard Davis, an Iraq war veteran who was murdered shortly after his return from Iraq. Richard Davis's father Lanny is also a former military police officer like the character Tommy Lee Jones plays, he too mounted his own investigation into his son's murder as did Tommy Lee Jones' character.
The case of Richard Davis' murder was also featured on CBS' 48 Hours and author Cilla McCain has written a book about it entitled, "Murder in Baker Company: The Forgotten Soldier" (Ms. McCain's own review can be found here: [...]
During the Vietnam War they sold POW bracelets that had engraved on them the name of a missing soldier, his rank and the date he went missing. Along with the bracelets came stickers for you to stick on the bracelet after the status of the missing soldier was discovered. Sadly the soldier on my bracelet was MIA until long after my bracelet broke, but I will never forget his name: Sgt. Harold Reid. I researched a few years ago and found out they had finally recovered his body and brought it home for burial near his family in Utah.
Isn't it unfortunate that for all the "Support Our Troops" yellow ribbons and magnets I see on cars everywhere, so little is done for them once they return home, they're essentially forgotten. Why aren't we equally supportive of those who have returned so changed from a needless, senseless war? Why would they need us to remember them and how they've selflessly given of themselves to serve our country? After all, they're "done", right?
Do You Know What An Upside Down Flag Means? June 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Trying to rationalize IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH will challenge your views. Many of them. And this is the signature of good cinema. We all know that war changes people. Men go to foreign lands, are ordered to do horrendous things in the name of "god and country", and then are supposed to return home to a normal, happy, healthy life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Director Paul Haggis (Crash) once again shows us a complex issue with morality taking a tailspin.
Based on a true story, In the Valley of Elah is a chilling and disturbing tale of how some young men are affected by the war in Iraq. Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men) is awakened one morning by a disturbing phone call. His son has gone missing ...but not in Iraq. He's back home at his army base but hasn't been seen in days. Hank -- a retired army man himself -- kisses his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon, Enchanted) goodbye and heads out to find him. And what he discovers is numbing and completely irrational.
The mood is set immediately when Hank leaves home and finds an American flag flying upside down; the international distress symbol for soldiers in trouble. Why and who did this is never known, but the message is clear: our boys in uniform need help.
When Hank's son's body is found mutilated, Hank turns up his private investigation skills with the help of Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron, North Country). Learning a great deal from each other, the two form a tenuous friendship based on the discovery of the truth about the murder. And the truth will flabbergast many viewers ...but in a thought-provoking way.
The cast of this film is simply phenomenal. Tommy Lee holds the production to a very high standard, and watching him trying not to burst into tears is probably one of the more powerful moments in the film. Also, I didn't realize that Det. Sanders was Charlize Theron. Minimal make-up and a tight hairdo (as well as some great acting) made me just see her character. A special note also MUST be made for one scene in particular. And this scene involved Susan Sarandon as Joan, the wife of Hank and mother of the murdered soldier. This scene was so powerful that it made me hold my breath. It is when she demands to see the remains of her son but can only view them through a glass pane that looks into the morgue ("Is that all? It looks so cold in there. Can I go in?") Gut-wrenching!
I applaud director Paul Haggis for making us look at the faults that surround us. Similar to Crash, this film holds nothing back and forces us to peer into those places we dare not look. But we must, if only to see who's slinging the rock, and who's the giant that'll fall.
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