In the Valley of Elah (2007)
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/scope 121m
Director: Paul Haggis
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, James Franco
Synopsis:
An ex-forces father of a soldier who has recently completed a tour in Iraq, journeys to his base to investigate his disappearance. He finds both the base and the civilian authorities to be less than helpful, especially when a missing persons turns out to be homicide. The implications of the truth he helps to uncover turn out to be even less palatable than the circumstances of death.
Review:
America's liberal conscience awakes, à la Coming Home, with this subtle critique of the Iraq war. The visual palette is drab blues and greys, the lines of the actors' faces firmly set, and particularly powerful use is made of the visual media found on the deceased's mobile phone. All told it is an adroit, cogent, albeit wan, essay on the state of the nation, a mystery whose resolution is far from ingenious, since the perpetrators are no twisted serial killer intelligences but simple squaddies.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/scope 121m
Director: Paul Haggis
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, James Franco
Synopsis:
An ex-forces father of a soldier who has recently completed a tour in Iraq, journeys to his base to investigate his disappearance. He finds both the base and the civilian authorities to be less than helpful, especially when a missing persons turns out to be homicide. The implications of the truth he helps to uncover turn out to be even less palatable than the circumstances of death.
Review:
America's liberal conscience awakes, à la Coming Home, with this subtle critique of the Iraq war. The visual palette is drab blues and greys, the lines of the actors' faces firmly set, and particularly powerful use is made of the visual media found on the deceased's mobile phone. All told it is an adroit, cogent, albeit wan, essay on the state of the nation, a mystery whose resolution is far from ingenious, since the perpetrators are no twisted serial killer intelligences but simple squaddies.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/scope 121m
Director: Paul Haggis
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, James Franco
Synopsis:
An ex-forces father of a soldier who has recently completed a tour in Iraq, journeys to his base to investigate his disappearance. He finds both the base and the civilian authorities to be less than helpful, especially when a missing persons turns out to be homicide. The implications of the truth he helps to uncover turn out to be even less palatable than the circumstances of death.
Review:
America's liberal conscience awakes, à la Coming Home, with this subtle critique of the Iraq war. The visual palette is drab blues and greys, the lines of the actors' faces firmly set, and particularly powerful use is made of the visual media found on the deceased's mobile phone. All told it is an adroit, cogent, albeit wan, essay on the state of the nation, a mystery whose resolution is far from ingenious, since the perpetrators are no twisted serial killer intelligences but simple squaddies.