In the Valley of Elah (2007)
DEPRESS-O-FEST. Tommy Lee Jones is fantastic.
I'm confused on the central metaphor (in the Bible, the Valley of Elah is the setting for the battle between David and Goliath). It's clear that when TLJ tells the story to Charlize "Single Working Mom" Theron's son, it's about boys finding the courage to stand up and face impossible odds, and we're meant to see the soldiers in Iraq as Davids giving up their lives and sanity to go to battle. But it's not clear who we're supposed to see as Goliath. Is war Goliath? Is the US military and government Goliath? Is Iraq Goliath? At one point, a recently returned veteran (played by an actual recent veteran) has less than charitable words for the country where he was just stationed, and though from my perspective it seems apparent Haggis wants to blame war itself for the dehumanization of its participants, I don't think any of the "Goliaths" that are keeping the US soldiers in Iraq can be defeated by something as simple as a single rock from a slingshot, however well placed.
I'm confused on the central metaphor (in the Bible, the Valley of Elah is the setting for the battle between David and Goliath). It's clear that when TLJ tells the story to Charlize "Single Working Mom" Theron's son, it's about boys finding the courage to stand up and face impossible odds, and we're meant to see the soldiers in Iraq as Davids giving up their lives and sanity to go to battle. But it's not clear who we're supposed to see as Goliath. Is war Goliath? Is the US military and government Goliath? Is Iraq Goliath? At one point, a recently returned veteran (played by an actual recent veteran) has less than charitable words for the country where he was just stationed, and though from my perspective it seems apparent Haggis wants to blame war itself for the dehumanization of its participants, I don't think any of the "Goliaths" that are keeping the US soldiers in Iraq can be defeated by something as simple as a single rock from a slingshot, however well placed.
posted by Jon @ 9:52 AM
3 Comments:
At 2:11 PM,
Pete said…
I think the Goliath is finding who's to blame for the mess. "It's fucked up," said the murderer but even after he confesses it's not emotionally satisfying.
At 2:22 PM,
Pete said…
i watched Talladega Nights last night. It's better the second time. There's lots of little comments that you can catch on DVD, like when the kids tell Sacha Baron Cohen to go back to Indonesia.
At 3:50 AM,
Jienan said…
I was going to watch this film...
Dare I suggest we use 'spoiler alert' even in the comment sections?
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