Are you sure you want to delete this comment? [5], Haggis initially approached Clint Eastwood to play the part of Hank Deerfield, which Haggis had written for him. "[10], The film was criticized by some as having a heavy-handed approach. Lanny drove across two states from his home in Missouri to Richard's base in Fort Worth, Texas, and began an investigation into his son's disappearance. Lanny asked his phone company for the reason for this, and shows the letter he received in response; it says the call was disconnected for being "unusual". That year, his son was stabbed and his body burned and buried by a trio of his fellow soldiers. In 2004, in Munro, Tennessee, the former Sergeant and gravel truck hauler Hank Deerfield tries to contact his son Mike in Fort Rudd after a period serving in Iraq. Burgoyne pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years. Woodcoff took investigators to a highway in Columbus, Georgia. The events surrounding Richard Davis's gruesome death are about to become familiar to British cinema audiences. In the Valley of Elah is released on 25 January. In the film, Tommy Lee Jones is a retired Military Criminal Investigations Detective who finds out that his son has gone AWOL just days after returning from Iraq. | The Valley of Elah is about 15 miles (23 km.) At Fort Rudd, Hank meets his son’s squad, and secretly takes Mike’s cell phone from his belongings. The testimony at trial clearly showed that defendant Martinez did the killing. Mario Navarrete, one of Richard's murderers, later described in court how "he never saw fear in Richard's eyes". Sure, I have issues with Haggis consistently painting his characters without too many shades of gray. In the Valley of Elah By & by Matt Stevens | Thu., Sep. 20, 2007 11:30 AM The Valley of Elah or Ella Valley ("the valley of the terebinth"; Hebrew: עמק האלה ‎ Emek HaElah; Arabic: وادي السنط ‎, Wadi es-Sunt) is a long, shallow valley in Israel and the West Bank best known as the place described in the Old Testament where the Israelites were encamped when David fought Goliath (1 Samuel 17:2, 19). High in the desert, a two-hour drive north of Los Angeles, a family huddles together at Sunset Hills Memorial Park. The screenplay was inspired by journalist Mark Boal's "Death and Dishonor", an article about the murder case published in Playboy magazine in 2004. But, while The New Yorker calls it "an American film that convinces you that its protagonist is genuinely a great man", the movie has been criticised by those who inspired it. Charlton returned to the Iraqi soldier's body and shot him on the ground a second time because he saw "a threatening movement". He would always be frightened, for the rest of his life, because he'd seen all of that.". When Richard's platoon was in Kuwait, ready to be sent back to the US, Burgoyne attempted suicide. Lanny tries to get to Richard, but something always prevents him. I believe those two prisoners he shot weren't the only ones. He could be cool at times, but I didn't like him because he was sneaky. Richard's mother, Remy, hopes to hold a third funeral once she obtains the last missing piece of Richard, one of his ribs. Penning has already come forward and received a plea deal, but at Sanders’ insistence, she and Hank hear his confession in person: he admits to stabbing Mike after a seemingly insignificant quarrel. They thought, 'He's just another dead soldier, he had it coming to him.'". You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. With a stellar cast Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones (whose character is based on Lanny Davis) and an Oscar-winning director, Paul Haggis, behind the camera, it was feted on its release in the United States. But Mark Casto, the lawyer who represented him at the trial, said in an email: "The other three defendants never said a thing and had no remorse for their conduct or even remorse for the event, regardless of their individual participation.