As awards season begins to really gather steam for 2007, the “important” and “relevant” films begin to slowly make their way to a theater near you. That said, the topic of choice this year seems to be Iraq. Obvious choice? Perhaps. Tired? Most definitely. In fact, almost every one of the abundant Iraq-focused films this year has been received with equal parts praise and abhorrence (with the exception of universally-lauded documentary “No End in Sight” which I have yet to see).

 It was to my great delight, then, to find that director Paul Haggis’ subtly heartbreaking new film, “In the Valley of Elah,” was a masterwork of narrative exploration. This is especially encouraging when one considers Haggis’ track record. (“Crash,” while I felt it was one of the best, if not the best, film of 2005, was viewed by many as a piece of sentimental melodrama.) However, “In the Valley of Elah” evidences that Haggis, an already great screenwriter, has immensely matured as a director. “Crash” worked because of Haggis’ crisp, bullet-quick dialogue, while “In the Valley of Elah” is able to show us much more than it tells us, a quality that makes the unfolding of the plot all the more devastating.

“Elah” stars Tommy Lee Jones as Hank Deerfield, a career military man whose sons have followed in his footsteps. The story begins with a phone call informing him of his son Mike’s (Jonathan Tucker) disappearance. Without hesitation, he packs a suitcase and heads out for a two day drive to his son’s military base. Once there, he takes on the role of amateur sleuth while receiving help from a sympathetic cop (Charlize Theron).

A good deal of “Elah” masquerades as a whodunit, but the conclusion of the film witnesses an evolution into something much more. The allusion to the Biblical Valley of Elah, the place where David slew Goliath, sets up an ideological point of view framing the war as a Goliath-like United States fighting a losing battle against the small, defenseless David-like Iraq. This metaphor doesn’t go much further, however, because, in the end, Haggis’ film is a meditation on how war, and particularly the war on Iraq, affects our young soldiers. “Elah” seems be asking whether these soldiers, once they leave, can ever really come home.

Tommy Lee Jones gives a performance, at once restrained and intense, which ranks as one of the best of his brilliant career. Jones’ naturally stoic demeanor lends itself perfectly to Hank Deerfield, a man who slowly has a veil lifted from his eyes in the face of his unplumbed tragedy. It is hard to imagine any other actor pulling off this role, one in union with the flawlessly unpretentious and pulp-less film. In fact, “Elah,” based on true events, is much less a story than an exploration of what lies beneath the surface of a story.

Theron also delivers fine work in a performance suggesting she took lessons from Jones’ subtlety. Susan Sarandon, in the role of Deerfield’s wife, is excellent in the scenes she’s in, but her status seems superfluous in a film which only utilizes her in a few scenes. However, it is non-professional actor and professional soldier Jake McLaughlin, who in reality served in Iraq by Hank Deerfield’s son, who gives the most painfully heartrending performance of war’s unkind hand.

While many have and will continue to view the end of “In the Valley of Elah” as over-the-top, its end is deserved. The film is rife with authenticity, characters who are both better and worse than you think, who are neither heroes nor villains, but instead, products of circumstance. Haggis’ controlled vision does end in a detour, but by this point it doesn’t matter.  He has created one of the best films of the year. A desertion of well-wrought subletly in search of emotional resonance and political agitation is his reward.

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