retire soldier tommy lee jones learn his son and just back from iraq and have go awol and and he search in vain for him and run up against resistance from both the army and and at least initially and the local police . but unlike most military crime drama and he do not unfold some huge conspiracy that reach to the very top of the command chain while rather and he have to come face to face with a reality that run counter to what he know about his boy . hank deerfield be one of those clear thinking and straightforward and honest character that tommy lee jones have play time and time again . in short and he a man who know what he want and how to get it and most of the time and and yet here he be baffle by the sudden disappearance of his young son and mike . all he have be mike cell phone and which include short video shoot in iraq . quickly and though and the case change from a missing person situation to a murder and a a burn and dismember body be find near mike base . however and first there a question of jurisdiction be mike kill on the street and then drag to within the base property line . no one seem to care much about how mike come to be where he do while the official stance be that he be the victim of a drug deal go wrong and perhaps a mexican gang . hank be frustrate and and he feel that there more to the story than meet the eye . after all and he know mike would never be mix up in drug or anything illicit while he be a good boy . could it be that his death be cause by one of the other three soldier he would hang around with the night he die . hank determine to get to the bottom of it all and if only to preserve the memory he have of his son . he manage to enlist the help of a local detective and emily sander ( charlize theron ) and who have to fight through monumental red tape ( and the patronize attitude of her fellow cop ) in order to work the case . in the end and though and it not about exactly what happen to mike and it really a referendum on the insanity of war . what happen to mike in iraq . do he return to the state demonstrably different from when he come . it very difficult for the straight shooting veteran ( along with his wife joan and play by susan sarandon ) to grasp just how different mike be from the boy who leave home to join the armed force and follow in the footstep of his old man and his older ( and now decease ) brother . this be a mystery that be solve in the end and but it not a simple explanation while even though the motif and mean for mike murder be reveal and nothing be really settle while only more and deep question on top of question emerge . this be definitely a point in the movie favor . a typical murder mystery might be decipher halfway through and with the protagonist finger the villain in the third act and and everyone go on to live happily ever after . this be so far from the case in this movie that it might as well be another zip code . we know who do it and we know why they do it and but we do not know and hank can only guess and despairingly what happen to allow the situation to even occur . jones be brilliant a always and and he earn an oscar nomination a the taciturn hank deerfield and a resolute and devout man who be unwilling to believe that which run against the fact he already have . hank and a former mp and have also a methodical and insightful investigator in his own right and and his analysis of the develop case allow him to hold out hope that his son legacy and if not his life and will be keep intact . theron be solid a the sympathetic detective while a tough minded and almost distant cop whose own tenacity prove essential to the case . ( although arguably she come off pretty uncaring early on . ) in the valley of elah and name for the place where david fight goliath and work because of the well cast jones and an end that leave plenty of issue unresolved and to it credit . there interaction with emily son that could have be excise ( although it serve a the source for the movie title ) and and there not quite enough interact between hank ( who investigate and near the base ) and joan ( who still at home and a two day drive away ) while true and too and that the stiff necked bureaucrat be a little too stubborn and uncaring . but paul haggis do a good job otherwise of keep the story on track without reveal too much too soon . even when the end be in sight and jones evocative and empathetic performance keep u from be too complacent .