In the Valley of Elah

A terrific movie about the dehumanising effect of war, told as a who-dunnit police investigation, with fantastic understated performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. The latter must now surely be recognised as by far the bravest and best actress of her generation. None of her contempories can claim to come close to the diversity of roles played by Theron. Here she gives an utterly convincing and straight as a dye performance as the police detective. Tommy Lee Jones is the father of a US soldier who disappears having just returned to his US base after a stint of duty in Iraq. It’s the type of role that Jones was made for and he is utterly mesmerising. I don’t know if it’s a recognised phenomenon, but after watching this movie I felt for some time afterwards as though I had a part of the Jones character in my head. I could feel his movements in some of my movements – such was the extent to which Jones draws you in.