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By Cole Smithey

‘In the Valley of Elah’

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Its evocative title refers to the place in Israel where David defeated Goliath at the behest of King Saul more than 3,000 years ago. Writer/director Paul Haggis (“Crash”) uses the biblically grounded metaphor as an all-encompassing touchstone for the desperate plight of physically and psychologically wounded Iraq War soldiers returning home.

Vietnam War vet Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) is a retired Army Sergeant who hauls gravel for a living in Monroe, Tenn. Having lost his oldest son, a soldier, in a helicopter training accident, Hank leaves immediately for Fort Rudd, N.M. upon learning that his younger son Mike (Jonathan Tucker) has gone missing since returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. Believing the soldier is AWOL, Mike’s platoon superiors are nonplussed by his father’s appearance until Mike’s stabbed, dismembered and charred body is found on a contested piece of jurisdiction between the military base and a civilian street.

Local police detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) teeters on succumbing to the lethargic attitude of the male cops that constantly ridicule her. A single mother with a young son, she is lost. Hank identifies Emily’s predicament and knows how to win her over. In a flash we see Emily transform from an unsympathetic desk clerk into a caring cop willing to follow Hank’s lead. In yet another tour de force performance Theron is nearly unrecognizable at first glance, with her hair pulled tightly back in a short ponytail and lacking make-up she blossoms into an uncompromising detective willing to learn from her mistakes.

Hank stalls an Army officer visiting his hotel room in order to prepare for the news of his son’s death. The men salute and a subtle difference in their execution of the universal military gesture hints at a divide between military officers of different generations. We notice the division again when the steely-eyed father visits his son’s room at Fort Rudd where “property theft is a real problem.” Hank takes advantage of the situation to invisibly remove Mike’s cell phone from the abandoned nightstand. Fragmented video files from the gadget provide video snippets of Mike’s Iraq missions. He was far from heroic. Hank silently accepts that his son did terrible things in the name of “bringing democracy to a shithole.”

Mike’s four platoon buddies necessarily become the focus of the investigation since they were the last ones to see the soldier alive. Conversations with their former buddy’s soldierly father enable theme-rich dialogue that cuts to the quick of their feelings about the war. It’s worth noting that Haggis cast real life war vets Wes Chatham and Jake McLaughlin in two pivotal roles. “If you ask me, they should just nuke it and watch it all turn back to dust,” says one of the boys, whose opinion reflects his self-destructive streak.    

Hank can’t listen to his distraught wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) cry over the telephone. A dinner invitation from Emily briefly revives his fathering skills when he tells her son (David Brochu) the story of David and Goliath. The contrasting scenes crystallize everything about Tommy Lee Jones’ brilliant embodiment of his role. It is Tommy Lee Jones finest and most fearless performance.

Paul Haggis based the story from an article in Playboy Magazine by Mark Boal called “Death and Dishonor,” about Army Specialist Richard R. Davis who was found stabbed to death shortly after returning from Iraq. What is the war doing to every one of us? What do you do when you realize that everyone in authority is lying? Why are they lying? How can we be saved from ourselves? These are a few of the questions the film raises in order to piece together aspects of a war whose effects will be felt long after the last soldier comes home. It is so patriotic as to be a radical example of dramaturgy. On top of that, it is executed to perfection. CV

3:10 to Yuma

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Director James Mangold’s update of the Elmore Leonard short story that spawned the original 1957 western is a gritty action-packed movie that trades on the talents of its headstrong leading men. Russell Crowe effortlessly settles into the role of mastermind robber Ben Wade, whose days of killing and theft draw to a close after his capture at a brothel where he dallies too long. Distraught rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is on the brink of losing his land to the railroad when he accepts the promise of a rich reward to help capture and escort Wade as far as the 3:10 train to the Yuma prison, where he is to be hanged. Nevertheless, the handcuffed prisoner increases his chances of escape with every guard he eliminates during the intense overland journey. Dan’s disobedient teenage son Will (Logan Lerman) comes to his father’s aid, and proves to be an essential asset before the train for Yuma leaves the station. Aside from a few plot pits, “3:10 to Yuma” is a boisterous western with strong ensemble performances all around.      Early on, ruffians set fire to Dan’s barn and he swears retribution that he is powerless to achieve. Since losing a leg in the Civil War, Dan wears a prosthetic limb that challenges his son’s doubts about his father. Even Dan’s wife (Gretchen Mol) has little faith in her husband’s ability to provide for their family. These are the ingredients of pathos that Christian Bale skewers as a master of the unexpected emotion.

The often-overlooked western genre is enjoying a spike thanks to movies like “September Dawn” and the upcoming breathlessly titled “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” “3:10 to Yuma” sets itself apart from the archetypal revenge structure by pitting the notion of an ingenious bandit against an emasculated war veteran struggling to save his family. There’s a wealth of dramatic material here, and a large part of the film’s appeal comes from the duality between its notoriously contentious leading men. Crowe’s studied composure withers in the presence of Bale’s slow-burn tenacity even as Wade is sold as Dan’s physical and intellectual superior. Bale is the better actor, and you can see it in the way he manipulates nuances of motivation that leave a mark, while Crowe’s throwaway performance is smooth to a fault.

James Mangold (“Walk the Line”) sees where Elmore Leonard’s post modern western strays from classical constraints of the genre, and is keen to emphasize an unconventional tone to the violence. Sequences of brutal action are treated with the desperation and intellect of the characters, while staying true to their inherent cinematic energy. There’s a moment of fetishistic appreciation for the weaponry of the day during a payroll coach robbery that Wade commands before being caught. A shiny Gatling gun mounted in the coach promises to overpower the thieves, and the audience is invited to marvel at its impressive functionality. And yet, when Dan and his son come upon the heist from afar, we share in accepting the dark allure of the crime that Will appreciates for its palpable excitement. It’s a thrill that the wide-eyed kid unknowingly shares with Wade’s fiercely loyal henchman Charlie Prince (played with exquisite menace by Ben Foster). Will’s longing voyeurism quickly shifts to that of active participant and along the way he proves himself to have an adult’s knack for effecting change.

Visually, “3:10 to Yuma” is stunning. An undercurrent of excitement permeates every frame of cinematographer Phedon Papamichael’s lens. A battle of wits between Dan and Wade lock the men in an extended duel that instructs Will in lessons of loyalty that the audience is privy to on a subconscious level until the film’s last moments bring on a rush of realization. Justice is not what it seems. CV

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