The Chinese translation of this film has two names: Battle of Yila Valley, Shocking Effect.
Battle in the Valley of Illa is a good name, like the story told in the movie: seduce, watch, kill.
Shock effect? Hehe, if calm is also a kind of shock, then this film is really shocking.
There are many people who like to attribute this movie to the anti-war theme, and even many people say that it is an anti-war classic. haha, really? Anti-war? Because soldiers who fought in the Iraq war were killed? Or are the soldiers returning from Iraq all psychopaths who kill their comrades? At least, this position, I do not agree with.
It doesn't imbue it with as much Iraqi context as other Iraqi films, such as "Pot Cover." There are only two scenes about Iraq. From fragmentation to completeness, the image of Iraq gradually emerges in our hearts. Undoubtedly, the director put a lot of effort into the choice of these two scenes, one was overrun by a child, and the other was torturing the pagans in the car. Two seemingly incomplete plots are enough to make us hate this war. However, to judge this film review is anti-war or too far-fetched.
From the beginning to the end, the biggest feature of this film is calm.
It all started in peace, with phone calls, meetings, even correcting the upside-down flag and making the beds in the hotel. Everything was so peaceful, even when he saw the broken child, what he did was a calm questioning. I even began to wonder, what does the death of the son mean to this father?
Everyone said: Father's love is deep.
The words are good, don't forget that both sons joined the army but left this world early. This father, what we have to endure in peace, we cannot comprehend. So, woke up from sleep; so, catching the suspect is an irrational beating; so, for a truth at all costs. It's just that no matter what happens, we will forgive this father. His peace is not because of cruelty, but because of bearing.
This movie is very much like "The Elephant". Equally flat, even when the story reaches its climax, you don't realize any ups and downs. Everything, as it should be, continues to develop, to continue to develop. It's calm and a little cruel, but only this kind of treatment will make us feel shocked. Or that's why it's called The Shock Effect.
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