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| In the Valley of Elah | 
| Category: Movie
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  95 reviews
Sales Rank: 16229
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 122 minutes
ASIN: B0013BRP08
Theatrical Release Date: September 28, 2007
Release Date: October 1, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
"Dad, you have to get me out of here." October 19, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It is all written on the faces, the harried father who desperately seeks the whereabouts of his son after a tour in Iraq, the others who served with the young man, their proud military bearing and soft-spoken reverence for authority belied by what they have seen and done in service to their country. In this powerful, haunting tale, the rigors of war fall upon the survivors. Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), ex-career military, leaves his home in Tennessee, wife (Susan Sarandon) waiting anxiously behind. Hank's last words: "I'll find him." Setting off in his pickup truck, Hank heads for his Mike Deerfield's military base. There are insufficient answers to ease a troubled father's mind. Hoping to circumvent the military police, Hank requests the help of Detective Emily Sanders, a young woman much derided by her fellow detectives. Resistant to Deerfield's imprecations, Sanders at allows him to accompany her to the scene of a recent crime, the mutilation and burning of an unidentified victim.
Once the victim is identified we come to the heart of the film- the reasons for a brutal slaying that straddles the border of military and civilian jurisdiction. Clinging to his rigorous daily standards, military corners on his motel bed, spit-shining his shoes each night before the terrible revelations of the next day, Deerfield is the contemporary American father, patriotic, hard-working, respectful of the institution that has formed the backbone of his life and that of his family. But everything he believes is challenged by the facts, piece by disheartening piece, all pointing towards an institution overwhelmed by the necessities of an ongoing war and the collateral damage inflicted on those who honor their country's call. Director Haggis is circumspect- at no time does he disrespect the military or the soldiers who serve their nation. But he cuts to the heart of war as etched on the face of one parent who bears the unbearable, the loss of a son in circumstances that baffle and disturb him.
Reviewing snippets of film accessed from his son's cell phone, Deerfield watches his son's reactions to the stresses of war, the moral dilemmas faced daily by soldiers in combat. Returning home, these young men are as tightly coiled as when in Iraq, struggling to integrate in a world that has moved on. As the detective slowly unravels a web of deceit engineered by the army, Deerfield hovers nearby, unable to return home without answers. Those he receives do little to lessen his pain, the internal struggle writ clear on the actor's face, more powerful than the declarations of the guilty, the smooth, untroubled faces of Mike's friends. One laments, "I couldn't wait to get out of Iraq. After two weeks here, I wish I could go back." This portrait of loss is scathing and painful, with no villain to blame, save the grim realities of war in the modern age, when powerful machines of destruction are wielded by the flesh and blood of fallible humans. David slays Goliath in the Valley of Elah, but this is a monster of our own making, the nature of war and its necessary, if inhuman demands. With a superior supporting cast (Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, Jason Patrick), Jones stands alone, much like his character, his grief relentless. Luan Gaines/2008.
 Valley of Ellah October 19, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This maybe a film with artistic merit but the thing I dislke about this film genre just like any other dealing
with an unpopular war is that it just becomes a liberal ideologue's feast.The conservative value and securi-
concerns are arbitrarily dismissed or worse demonized.Especially now that a tsunami of liberalism is swee-
ping America Hollywood surely will come out soon with more films treating world security as the villain's
illusion.
 In the Valley of Elah - Blu-ray Info October 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Version: U.S.A / Region Free
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
VC-1 BD-25
Running time: 2:01:17
Movie size: 20,86 GB
Disc size: 23,32 GB
Average video bit rate: 17.14 Mbps
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 16-bit English
DD AC3 5.1 640Kbps English / French / Spanish
Subtitles: English SDH / French / Spanish
Number of chapters: 27
#After Iraq and Coming Home - Documentary (43 min)
#Deleted scenes (6 min)
 Another Piece of Fiction Claiming to Be Based on True Events August 26, 2008
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
As soon as I saw the, "Based on True Events" disclaimer at the beginning of the film, I immediately became suspicious that the film would use dramatic license too liberally.
And it did. Yes, some soldiers murdered another soldier. Yes, they tried to burn the remains. But that's where the similarities end.
This is just another despicable, "The war is making baby killers out of our boys" film that exploits a true life tragedy to advance anti-war sentiment...and dishonors the other brave men and women who did serve honorably in Iraq.
Everything else depicted in the film did not happen--no cell phone with graphic videos of events in Iraq, no father doing his own detective work, no fried chicken after the murder, no brother who also got killed in Iraq, no assisting female detective, no sexist pig detectives, no suicide, no stonewalling military police, no city police unwilling to investigate...
One word sums this movie up perfectly--fraud. If it were just a work of fiction, fine. But instead it tries to dupe the audience into thinking it's real by claiming it's based on true events.
Valley of Elah July 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
a slow and twisting plot line. excellent acting. original story. no real surprises, but the actors work very well together and the movie reveals itself. too intense for children, but a great movie with very little real war footage.
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