The Valley of Elah

Very succinctly, this movie is the story of a father’s quest to discover what happened to his Iraq veteran son. Tommy Lee Jones masterfully plays the father and Charlize Theron is the tough female cop on the case, both of her own will and as an assignment. I don’t normally watch films like this, but I was drawn to this one because of the promise of the performers and the plot. Paul Haggis, of Crash fame, directs.

I don’t want to ruin the plot for anyone that hasn’t seen this movie, I’m just going to write about the effect it had. Watching this movie was like a kick to the gut. It’s a deep examination of the Iraq war and more importantly, the toll of this war on veterans. It neither excuses the actions of any of the characters or points a blatant figure at the administration. In fact, the movie tip-toes around the issue of mental health care for the veterans, but the impact can’t be missed. The symbolic gesture at the end offers no closure and states clearly that we are still in this mess, but somehow I was relieved. My relief came with the knowledge that the Bush Administration is over. Horrible mistakes were made over the past eight years and there is still so much work to be done, but at least there is hope now. It’s difficult not to feel an overwhelming sense of anger at everything Bush did. There is no justice for him, but I can still hope that one day he will realize what he did and feel guilty. That to me, would be the best form of justice and the only true form of justice.