In the Valley of Elah

12/30/2014

A soldier disappears after he has come back from Iraq. His father, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), is alerted and sets off in the hopes of finding his son. He soon finds out that his son was actually killed, brutally you might say, his body cut up and burned. The evidence lead in no real directions, but it soon becomes apparent that his army bodies are lying, also, the images that Hank recovers from his son's phone, seem to suggest that something happened in Iraq. To say anything more would be to ruin the movie. However, this movie is not just a crime story, where we follow the father and cop (Charlize Theron) as they get to the bottom of the mystery. This is a story about war, the people in it and at hoome, as well as bravery and sorrow. It is told carefully, and with skillfully prec

3/17/2025

When “Hank” (Tommy Lee Jones) gets a call to say that his soldier son “Mike” has gone awol shortly after his return to the USA from Iraq, he sets off to track him down. Initially, he hits a wall of indifference from investigators but then an hacked-up body is discovered and quickly identified as the missing man. Together with police officer “Sanders” (Charlize Theron) - who is, herself, having to prove her worth in a chauvinist department of clods, they decide it’s best to work together on a case that seems to suggest that drugs might be at the bottom of the case and that some of his son’s erstwhile colleagues from the war might know more or even be complicit. Of course “Hank” doesn’t want to believe that his son could be involved in dealing narcotics, but as they begin to piece things tog