“In the Valley of Elah” is a different kind of war movie whose overall message is that the government is patently unprepared to deal with the traumatized men and women returning from the war in Iraq and how they cope — or don’t — with being “normal” again.

The Elah of the title refers to the valley where David met and killed Goliath. And writer-director Paul Haggis clearly wants us to see the murder mystery at the heart of “Elah” as such a story.

Hank Deerfield (the eternally taciturn Tommy Lee Jones) is a retired military police officer whose younger son, Mike, has gone missing from base not long after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. Having already lost their older son in a military copter crash, he and his wife, Joan (Susan Sarandon), are determined to find out what has happened to their other boy. To that end, Hank travels to the base to check things out.

Once there, he is stalled by the military machine, though the Army tries to make it seem as if it is cooperating in the search for his son. So he turns to local police Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), who tells him it’s a military matter — there’s nothing she can do.

Then a burned, dismembered body turns up. It’s determined to be Mike’s. Because the body was found on base property, the military takes over the murder investigation.

But Hank just won’t give up. With dogged diligence and some rather unbelievable investigative insights, he helps Emily prove that Mike was killed on the roadway (giving the police jurisdiction) before being dragged to base property.

And this is where the story becomes one of David (Emily and Hank) vs. Goliath (the United States Army). Hank and Emily seek the truth of what happened, and the Army stymies them every step of the way.

If this were all that the movie was, it would be just another eye-rolling, heavy-handed cliche of the military as bad guy. But Jones, Theron and Sarandon give the story a little more meat with their heartfelt portrayals of two parents and a detective who just want to know what happened. As you would expect of three Oscar winners, their work here is above average.

“In the Valley of Elah” is definitely a political film. And you won’t be left in any doubt about what the filmmakers’ views are: They are clearly anti-war with a healthy mistrust of and grudge against the military.

The leavening comes as they raise legitimate questions about what happens to the troops returning from the horrors of a guerrilla war in a foreign land and what the military is prepared to do to help them psychologically and physically adjust to life at home, subjects that are popping up more and more frequently in the news in the real world.

The tagline for “In the Valley of Elah” is that “Sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it,” a sentiment Haggis and company clearly want the audience to embrace when it comes to the Iraq war.

Reach Vicki S. Reynolds at 473-7322 or vreynolds@journalstar.com.