Like Haggis' Crash, In the Valley of Elah is overcrowded by more sprawling subplots than a daytime soap. No doubt, the movie will rile as many critics as Crash did, but for all its flaws, it's a vital and urgent American story, beautifully shot by Roger Deakins in washed-out browns and greens that evoke what the world looks like to a man whose every reason for being has turned to ash. What's more, In the Valley of Elah is a rare assumption of responsibility for what we ask our soldiers to do; how we ignore them when they can't; and how, as broken men, they victimize both those they're meant to protect and themselves.