I’ve been finding it intersting that more and more movies are coming out about the war in Iraq. The other day it just dawned on me that in 20 years, this war will be just like Vietnam in that there will be plenty of books, movies, etc out there for people to learn from.
In the same way that Lions for Lambs seemed so lame compared to Charlie Wilson’s War, I think Robert Redford’s film once again pales in comparison to In the Valley of Elah. The first pair goes together because they both deal with war in Afghanistan. The second pair also makes sense because they both deal with the current “War on Terror” or “War of Terror” as Borat puts it.
This film deals with a soldier that has just returned from home, but turns up missing. Tommy Lee Jones, plays the boy’s father, is trying to figure out what happened to his son. Being a veteran, and a bit of an investigator himself, Hank Deerfield isn’t satisfied with the lackluster efforts and figuring out just what happened to his son. Through trial and tribulation, Hank finally gets Detective Sanders, Charlize Theron, to take a real look at the case and try to piece all the parts together. In the meantime, Hank is trying to make sense of some of the videos his son had been sending home to him from the battlefield.
This is truly a sad and tragic story, but I feel that it gave me a little peak into what some of these people are going through. Every once in a while I catch a blip on the news about what’s going on in that region of the world. The only real thing that’s actually affecting me are gas prices and the economy tanking. I’m not in the armed forces though, and there’s very little chance of a draft happening again so I’d be really surprised if I ever experienced anything like this first hand.
Rating: 
I wasn’t too sure about this one when I first heard about it. I just didn’t know how Jamie Foxx would do in this role. Jennifer Garner had that show Alias and Chris Cooper has proven himself time and again. Even Jason Bateman has done amazingly well recently with Arrested Development, one of the best shows in the past few years. I even had a chance to see a free screening a couple hours away, but wasn’t able to make it. It wasn’t until after I had read some of the reviews that I decided I had to see this.
If you’re not sure of the plot this is kinda about terrorism. It takes place in Saudi Arabia after an American “compound” for oil workers is blown up during a picnic. This isn’t based on actual events, but it’s one of those very plausible stories - especially with all the turmoil currently happening in that region. The FBI ends up sending in a team to help the Saudis do some forensic work at the scene and try to catch whomever is responsible.
Even though this movie turns into action for the last 20 minutes or so, I’ll still argue that this movie is more about people than it is guns and blowing stuff up. I think the root of many conflicts is miscommunication. People on both sides are assuming things based on many factors and reasons, and a lot of times both sides aren’t even talking about the same thing. I think that’s evidenced in this film.
Right from the start the Saudis are very opposed to American involvement in their country and their problems. I can certainly sympathize with that. Can you think of a time you were having a problem or argument and welcomed some stranger stepping up and trying to help/solve your problems? This is seen with the character Colonel Faris Al Ghazi played by Ashraf Barhom. He’s been instructed to “take care” of these Americans and not let them get too involved while the Americans are frustrated they just can’t “dive in” and get their hands dirty.
Eventually the Colonel and Fleury, Foxx, come to the agreement that they’re both just trying to catch a criminal and prevent the continued loss of life. Once they realized they were both aiming for the same goal, just coming at it from different angles, they were able to really accomplish something.
I also liked how the movie showed there were both good and bad Americans; good and bad Saudis. Not everyone who is Arab or Muslim is a terrorist. Not every American has the world’s best interest in mind. I know this movie wasn’t made to help improve relations between countries, but I think it takes some small steps towards breaking down some of these invisible walls of prejudice, racism and hatred. Everybody has lost somebody. The hard part is stopping the violence to try and prevent more. As the Klingons say, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
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