there have be many film about the aftermath of war and but never have i see such a brutally honest and shock depiction of the de humanization of soldier back from war . this be the underlying premise of the new crime thriller from academy award win writer or director paul haggis ( crash ) . hank deerfield ( play by tommy lee jones ) be a retired veteran and military police officer search for his son who have go awol . a detective emily sander ( play by charlize theron ) become interested in the case and start help hank outside of her job . when hank son body be find and the search suddenly turn into a search for the murderer . one of the many aspect i appreciate be that director haggis do not turn this into a typical hollywood crime thriller and also not turn it into a political propaganda piece against the war and president bush . instead he mix the two plot together seamless and subtle and let you decide for your self . tommy lee jones give the best performance of his long career a he play a quiet and emotionless war vet and but still show tremendous amount of emotion . just watch his face a he sit in a diner and listen to one of his retired friend tell him about plan to go visit his grandchild be heartbreaking . we can almost see the internal emotional struggle a he realize he will never be able to do that . charlize theron do a wonderful job a the detective and and despite her small screen time susan surandon play the grieve wife of jones to perfection . this film be such a move masterpiece on so many level it be simply wonderful to watch . the quiet pacing of the film build up to the climax be captivatingly intense in it own way . i be sure this will be a popular film at the oscar this year and and if they give out award for best scene this would be sure to garner a nomination for a simple and poignant and yet profoundly move scene when frank tell the story of david and goliath ( which take place in the valley of elah ) to the little son of detective sander .