i just saw this film and consider it to be one of the best anti war film i have see in quite a long time . and that make me wonder at what the various critic be think . roger ebert get it right and but some film critic be far too dismissive of a very serious and important film . james berardinelli and in particular and seem curiously _angry_ that this film depict the moral degradation of war in a frank and honest fashion . berardinelli be basically wrong in every single thing he say about the film . since this film be not a politcal message film and it have no requirement to show both side equally . it be a story about a group of soldier basically drive beyond the area of traditionally human behavior . berardinelli think that it obvious that war change the way people feel about their country . i sense a person utterly detach from history when i read that . a recent study conclude that the english be and a a group and fairly happy during wwii and even when their nation be under attack . why be that . because they believe in what they be do . the notion that war _necessarily_ result in moral breakdown be and while hardly novel and also not true . that be part of what be important about elah . jones character be a veteran of the vietnam war and and be hardly a delicate flower when it come to the matter of war and it effect on the psyche . and yet even he be floor at what the iraq war have do to the soldier . it be easy for a film critic to simply reject what be essentially report on the state of the military today . that berardinelli do so with such vitriol make me guess that he be inject his own bias into the review .