The Casualties at Home
In the Valley of Elah
Directed by Paul Haggis
2007, Warner Independent Pictures, 120 minutes
Based on actual events during the first year of this Iraq war, In the Valley of Elah is the gripping story of Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), a retired military police officer living in Tennessee, who is informed in the middle of the night that his soldier-son Mike—just back from Iraq—has gone AWOL from an Army base in New Mexico. The father goes in search of the son, uncovering grisly details behind his disappearance as well as the dehumanizing effects of combat service in Iraq. Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) reluctantly includes Hank in her investigation, and the two piece together the facts while encountering resistance from the military and sheriff’s department. Meanwhile, Joan Deerfield (Susan Sarandon), the distraught mother and concerned wife, waits anxiously and pries updates from her tight-lipped, stubbornly stoic husband.
The film deals with many themes and concerns relevant to the experiences of soldiers, veterans, and their families and communities. The details of his son’s experience in Iraq are gradually revealed to Hank (and us) via video attachments recovered by a hacker from Mike’s cell phone. Haggis’ film captures the significant role digital technology plays in mediating our encounter with and understanding of war. Armed with their own cameras, soldiers film video messages to loved ones, as well as the day-to-day practices of the occupation and war crimes being committed; the Abu Ghraib torture photos are the most horrific example. These images shape perception of the occupation and serve as a growing body of popular knowledge about the realities on the ground.
Alcohol and drug abuse serves as a subtle yet recurrent prop in the film, a coping strategy for vets, and a common activity in the bonding moments between soldiers and veterans who have shared similar combat experiences. An important scene happens toward the end of the film when Hank has a drink with a soldier named Ortiez who served with his son. Ortiez says that while he was in Iraq he wanted nothing more than to be home, but now that he is home all he wants is to go back to Iraq. This conveys the sense of alienation that veterans feel upon returning to a civilian world that neither appreciates their sacrifice nor understands the painful ordeal of having to live with what they’ve seen and done. Out of frustration and a longing for escape, many turn to substance abuse, violence, or suicide. All of these were present in the film.
In the Valley of Elah shows the trauma war produces for everyone touched by it. When the audience first meets Detective Sanders, she is busy explaining to a soldier’s wife that there is nothing she can do about her husband’s erratic, violent behavior. The woman’s soldier-spouse has recently returned from Iraq and seems to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sanders unhelpfully suggests the terrified wife go to the VA. This interaction between the two women highlights the unfortunate fact that most communities are not equipped to deal with the broad range of issues that veterans face when coming home from war.
Few viewers may have caught this detail, but the soldier who informs Hank that his missing son’s body was discovered is played by Marine Corps veteran Sean Huze, who is also featured in the documentary The Ground Truth. Huze gained recognition when he penned a play called The Sand Storm, which ran for several weeks in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Inspired to tell the stories of combat veterans who grapple with war and its aftermath, both Huze and Haggis offer pointed critiques of the Iraq War through their narratives of traumatized troops.
The image of an upside-down U.S. flag, used in the military as a distress signal, bookends the film’s plot. Hank is initially disturbed by the faux pas committed by a Salvadoran school janitor in hanging the flag the wrong way. The retired soldier takes it upon himself to train the immigrant in the proper observance of U.S. civil ritual and the sacred nature of the flag. At the end of the film, Hank sees his immigrant neighbor once more, this time instructing him to leave the flag upside-down, as if to say the nation remains in distress as long as the Iraq war continues.
