SOMETIMES FINDING THE TRUTH IS EASIER THAN FACING IT.

Retired military investigator Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to find out what has happened to his son who seems to have gone AWOL from the Army; eventually he gets help from a local police detective (Charlize Theron). A drama about the dehumanizing effects of war; director Paul Haggis’s script may have few surprises, but his film is certainly relevant and should hit home emotionally with audience members who are weary of a pointless war overseas. The story has a compelling mystery, fierce criticism against Army bureaucracy and a few scenes that are almost devastating to watch. Superior performances all around.

2007-U.S. 120 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Paul Haggis, Laurence Becsey, Steve Samuels, Patrick Wachsberger, Darlene Caamano. Written and directed by Paul Haggis. Story: Paul Haggis, Mark Boal. Cast: Tommy Lee Jones (Hank Deerfield), Charlize Theron (Emily Sanders), Susan Sarandon (Joan Deerfield), Jason Patric, James Franco, Josh Brolin… Frances Fisher.

Trivia: Clint Eastwood was allegedly considered for the part of Hank. 

Last word: “Clint [Eastwood] has been a great friend. He’s the reason the film got made. I took it all around Hollywood for six or seven months and couldn’t get it sold, so then I took it to him. I asked him to read the story that Mark Boal wrote, which he did, and said: ‘Wow, is it true?’ I said yes and he said he’d help get it done. So he took it to Warner Bros and asked them to consider it, which they did, and they bought the rights from me and I was able to write the screenplay. Then we had to cobble together the financing independently because it’s an independent film, and Warner Independent released it for us in the US.” (Haggis, Rotten Tomatoes)

IMDb