In the Valley of Elah
Dir: Paul Haggis
2007
*****
A brutally honest depiction of the War and the effect it can have on young soldiers. I hated Paul Haggis's Crash, I thought it was overrated and contrived but In the Valley of Elah is astonishingly good. I was going to say it took guts to make, I was going to go as far as saying it's pretty unpatriotic too but Haggis is Canadian, so it's not, but the fact it did so well in America can only conclude that people are starting to look at the war in a different way. Either that or everyone has missed the point. Making and releasing a film in the same country that you hang the flag upside-down in could be seen as the highest of insults. Haggis's is saying, America is sick and in crisis. The last 15 minutes of the film are so powerful, I'm not sure why it hasn't been praised more highly, I can only imagine it's due to the delicate subject matter but again, it's a subject that needed to be addressed. An unexpected example of brilliant film-making - if it had been made during the Vietnam war it would be now regarded as a classic and Haggis would have been shot. I think the people who have stated that it is a slow story with not enough action have missed the point somewhat.