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movie review - In the Valley of Elah

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2010.10.18

This is a movie about an Army veteran who receives word that his son has gone missing from an army base in the US. Believing his son to be in Iraq, he at first challenges this assertion but is told the son's unit has been returned. He tries to contact the young man, but failing to reach him decides to investigate for himself.

The veteran was an MP (and retains the rank of Sergeant) so he decides to puts his investigative skills to use. When a dismembered, partially-burned body turns up, he's told it's his son. Roping the reluctant civilian police force into his investigation when it appears that the Army is closing him out, he forces some further discoveries that lead to rather unhappy conclusions.

I liked everything about this movie. The pace is perfect, the slow reveal of a prior desperate conversation with the son, the way that things are unearthed .. I don't know how it could be better. All of the characters are natural people doing believable things. There's no grand conspiracy at play here, and in fact what this story reveals is far more important. As a (new) father this really hit home. I'm glad they set up the final message so well, "This country's in trouble."

This might be one of the best movies I've ever seen. I've been lucky, this year.

Strongly recommended. A favorite.

rand()m quote

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

—Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.