In the Valley of Elah

"Sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it."

2007 2h 4m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 1,143

HistoryDramaThrillerCrimeMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A career officer and his wife work with a police detective to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.

“Sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Tommy Lee Jones
Hank Deerfield
Charlize Theron
Detective Emily Sanders
Susan Sarandon
Joan Deerfield
Frances Fisher
Evie
James Franco
Sergeant Carnelli
Jonathan Tucker
Mike Deerfield
Jason Patric
Lieutenant Kirklander
Josh Brolin
Chief Buchwald

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Paul Haggis
Writers: Paul Haggis, Mark Boal
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Paul Haggis, shot by Roger Deakins. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mark Isham. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jo Francis shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0478134 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Paul Haggis directs. Roger Deakins behind the camera. Mark Isham scores. Jo Francis cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 19 years ago.
2Directed by Paul Haggis, shot by Roger Deakins. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Mark Isham. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Jo Francis shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it.".
7IMDB entry: tt0478134 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 12 themes, including "police", "parent child relationship", "war crimes", "homicide".

The technical file

Cinematography: Roger Deakins
Original score: Mark Isham
Editing: Jo Francis
Production design: Laurence Bennett
Costume design: Lisa Jensen
Makeup / hair: JoAnn Stafford-Chaney
Sound: Marc Fishman
Runtime: 124 min · 2h 4m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $23,000,000
Box office: $29,541,790
Return: 128% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Also by

Paul Haggis

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Kenneth Axel Carlsson2014-12-30
★ 8.5/10
A soldier disappears after he has come back from Iraq. His father, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), is alerted and sets off in the hopes of finding his son. He soon finds out that his son was actually killed, brutally you might say, his body cut up and burned. The evidence lead in no real directions, but it soon becomes apparent that his army bodies are lying, also, the images that Hank recovers from his son's phone, seem to suggest that something happened in Iraq. To say anything more would be to ruin the movie. However, this movie is not just a crime story, where we follow the father and cop (Charlize Theron) as they get to the bottom of the mystery. This is a story about war, the people in it and at hoome, as well as bravery and sorrow. It is told carefully, and with skillfully precision by the entire cast, and Paul Haggis. By the end, we don't even really care about the murder being solved, just that the father finally made peace with his son. He understands better than anyone what war does to a man, you can see that clearly in his eyes throughout the movie. Only one thing bothered me about this movie, and it is actually something that bothers me quite often. Music. I don't mind music in movies, I don't even mind music that enhances a certain emotion, sorrow, happiness etc. No, what bothers me is that moviemakers feel that they need music so badly, when really, they don't. More often than not, the images and actors speak the words clearly, we don't need the sad tones to emphasize what we are already feeling. It's not that bad in this movie, but I did notice it a few times, where it bothered me. Last words... don't watch this movie and feel like you need to "figure it out". It's not about that at all, just allow yourself to be swept away be the amazing cast and let the story onfold itself in front of you. This is not a story about a crime, but a story about a father... and a son.
CinemaSerf2025-03-17
★ 6/10
When “Hank” (Tommy Lee Jones) gets a call to say that his soldier son “Mike” has gone awol shortly after his return to the USA from Iraq, he sets off to track him down. Initially, he hits a wall of indifference from investigators but then an hacked-up body is discovered and quickly identified as the missing man. Together with police officer “Sanders” (Charlize Theron) - who is, herself, having to prove her worth in a chauvinist department of clods, they decide it’s best to work together on a case that seems to suggest that drugs might be at the bottom of the case and that some of his son’s erstwhile colleagues from the war might know more or even be complicit. Of course “Hank” doesn’t want to believe that his son could be involved in dealing narcotics, but as they begin to piece things together with some spurious clues and conflicting testimony, it looks like that might just be the only solution. The first hour or so of this is quite a potent look at just how war takes away any perception of the value of life. “It’s how we coped” is often used, and plausibly so on many occasions, but as we near the denouement the structures of the story start to fall away and the denouement is distinctly weak - as if the writer hadn’t quite the courage of any convictions necessary to see the thrust of their story through to a more honest conclusion. It just sort of peters out with a denouement that seems to want to make an entirety independent statement about the effects of war that makes decent men less so and bad men more so. There’s too much chatter about who has jurisdiction and the sparing appearances from Susan Sarandon as wife/mother “Joan” can’t really add much more than the desperate mother wondering what her son was doing in the military in the first place, and that of course points a finger squarely at a dad who perhaps demanded too much of his child. It is worth a watch as there is a degree of chemistry between Jones and Theron but there’s simply not enough meat on it’s bones.