THE WAR COMES HOME

In 2005, writer-director Paul Haggis came out of nowhere with the utterly brilliant Crash, which went on to win the Best Picture Oscar over heavy favorite Brokeback Mountain. When I first saw Crash in early summer before it was a buzz-machine, I was caught off guard by the power of it's words, by the gripping plotlines and the vivid characters. Now two years later, Haggis returns with his follow up as director, and once again delivers a searing portrait of American characters that asks tough questions about not just our culture, but our very nature as human beings.

While Crash has been accused by some as being heavy-handed, Haggis is more gentle with his social commentary this time around, delving into both the emotional impact of losing a son to war, and the psychological impact of losing one's soul to war. Tommy Lee Jones gives an outstanding, understated performance as a father facing what war has done to his son and what it has done to him. Charlize Theron is also great as a single mother raising a son while trying to make her way as a detective in a mysoginistic environment at the Albuquerque police department. Together these two actors help weave a very personal story of tragedy in a time when the war comes home to face it's fathers. It is the prodigal son without the redemption.

The film is simplistic, without an overdramatic score or colorful cinematography--focusing instead on the characters' struggle to come to grips with a shockingly violent world emerging around them. What is the cause of this menacing nature, and do they find it also in themselves? With Crash, we saw that human connection could extend beyond the surface of our skin despite the tendency to close ourselves off. In the Valley of Elah is just as thematically potent. The title itself may seem very distant at first, but it's actually the heart of the film. The symbolic final frames will leave the viewer questioning how we can continue to send young soldiers into a battlefield that they can never truly return from. Even the most conservative of filmgoers will question the value of war, and that my friends, is a valid question.

9/10 or A