In the Valley of Ellah

Paul Higgis' In the Valley of Ellah shows excellent cinematography: the camera work gets five stars. However, the final twist in this otherwise, well-structured film, remains unimpressive and lacks depth. As a result, the film doesn't deliver that dramatic and philosophic punch that it, given the themes it dwells on - war and human nature, could have delivered. It ends with benign moralizing (perhaps Higgis had joined the Democratic Party recently). The fact that US soldiers (not all of course, but many) in Iraq kill for fun and lose any "normal" human reactions, is well established. But why does it happen? What triggers that? And what does it mean for the American nation? Higgis doesn't really talk about that. However, the film brings one important point: the link between the cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans. These two go hand in hand. I give three stars out of five to this film.