‘In the Valley of Elah’ an Evocative Avowal of Human Consequences of War

CHICAGO – This statement is a shrill testimony of one soldier’s stance on his time spent fighting Bush’s war in Iraq:

“We should just nuke it and watch it all turn back to dust.”

Tommy Lee Jones in the film “In the Valley of Elah”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Those words come courtesy of “In the Valley of Elah,” which opens on Friday in Chicago and goes nationwide on Sept. 21 from Warner Independent Pictures.

The film, which spawns from the directorial mind of “Crash” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” writer Paul Haggis, co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. Though added in for her maternal touch, Susan Sarandon is mostly forgettable.

While the film itself is a relatively evocative avowal of modern-day war and the wide-ranging consequences of it, discussion with a panel of experts following my Sept. 6 screening in Chicago tore even more at your heartstrings and brought the issue close to home.


Charlize Theron and director Paul Haggis for “In the Valley of Elah”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
“In the Valley of Elah” – a film title that references the valley where diminutive David slingshotted and beheaded the gargantuan Goliath – only hinted at post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that so often inflicts soldiers psychologically, biologically and socially after returning from war.

Inspired by true events from 2004, the amalgam of stories more paints the picture of one father’s search for his son who’s MIA just after returning to the U.S. from fighting in Iraq. On the other hand, the panel gravely zeroed in on the PTSD issue with the design of angering moviegoers into acting on it.

The accuracy of the film, which delicately imbues a tasteful dose of drama and politics, was vouched by panelists but only as the tip of the iceberg. Following America’s “staunch refusal to get with the program” years ago when “we weren’t even approaching sufficient psychiatric care,” panelists say we’ve come along way quickly.


Charlize Theron in the film “In the Valley of Elah”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Retired U.S. Army Reserve captain and longtime therapist Alison Lighthall, who has devoted her life to the treatment of soldiers returning from war with PTSD, said: “This film did more in two hours than I can do in two years.”

As she was the most vocal and authoritative on the subject, I asked: “We’ve seen in the film today and panelists have discussed all the soldiers who return from war with PTSD. How many don’t?” She said no one’s brain and body returns from war unscathed.

She describes many who return their bodies but suffer a “soul death”.

Lighthall says the suicide rate by soldiers returning from war is much higher than people want to admit and statistics show. She says the thought process goes like so: “I don’t want to be alive. I don’t want pain. Alive equals pain. Dead equals no pain. Then they think of ways to off themselves.”


Director Paul Haggis for “In the Valley of Elah”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
In the military, she says it’s considered especially dishonorable to “abandon your mission” by killing yourself. Such soldiers instead fling themselves on the battlefield with a death wish and want to die honorably there.

Beyond severe disassociation, time warping and losing track of where they are in reality, she describes the scenario many of us have heard about in which prisoners released from prison want to return and soldiers back from war crave their return to it.

“They go to war. We go to the mall,” Lighthall said. “They’re used to their adrenaline going 24/7 with their buddies. They don’t understand a safe and unfocused society. Back from war, they feel not at home. When they come back, they find society so strange.”

By Adam Fendelman
Publisher
HollywoodChicago.com

© 2007 Adam Fendelman, HollywoodChicago.com