Country: USA
Genre: Drama | Romance | War
Direction: Oren Moverman
Cast: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Eamonn Walker, Jena Malone, Steve Buscemi
While on a recent deployment to Iraq, US Army Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery is injured when an improvised explosive device goes off within close proximity to him. He is back in the States recovering from the more serious of those injuries, including one to his eye and leg. He has resumed a sexual relationship with his long time girlfriend Kelly, despite the fact that she is now engaged to another man who Will knows. With the few months Will has left in his enlistment, the army assigns him to the Casualty Notification Team in his area. Not having a background in counseling, psychology or grief management, he is unsure if he is well suited to this job. He is partnered with a career soldier, Captain Tony Stone, who teaches Will the precise protocol involved in the job. Tony tells Will, who quickly learns by on the job experience, that this job has its own dangers. As Will learns to adapt to the range of emotions of the next of kin, he is unprepared for the reaction of Olivia Pitterson, whose husband was killed in Iraq. His initial encounter with Olivia leads to him wanting to get to know her better, which may not be in either her or his best interest. Despite being a recovering alcoholic, the more experienced Tony tries to guide Will as best he can under their collective circumstances.
Download The Messenger (2009)
Movie Review:
This film will be too much for some viewers because of the spot-on antiwar statement but the story is tight and the performances powerful
There are many avid film viewers who will see a film with Woody Harrelson no matter what it is or how good it is. Film makers have used this to their benefit by featuring Harrelson in small bit parts in films that promote lesser known actors and directors. This is fine, Harrelson appears to be a good sport about it and willing to help others on their way up. But this film is not like that. This film is the real McCoy, Grade A, power punching, “Larry Flynt,” “Natural Born Killer,” “High-Low Country” Woody. If you love the man you will love this film.
Even better, he is paired with Ben Foster who is showing himself to be a respectable rival to Harrelson in the simmering anger barely controlled department. In the surrealistic “3:10 to Yuma” he is universally acknowledged to be the best drooling gun slinging psycho to ever grace the streets of a one-horse town. He is the perfect complement to the relatively sane killer Ben Wade played by super-smooth Russell Crowe. In this film he is the perfect partner for seemingly straight and sober US Army officer Tony Stone who is played to the hilt by Harrelson.
Foster and Harrelson are both US Army officers who have one of the most unusual and least envied jobs in the service. They tell surviving loved ones that their sons, daughters, husbands and wives have been killed in combat in Iraq. This is one of those jobs that we all know exist but that we never think about. The depiction of the events that unfold when such news is delivered is a film all by itself even without the Samantha Morton love interest.
Morton plays Olivia Paterson, a mother and widow of an Army serviceman recently killed in combat. When Montgomery and Stone tell her the news she is passive at first but as the film progresses the depth of her feeling begin to emerge. In the end Montgomery is faced with the strong temptation to break the first rule in the book of the messengers: never get involved with the recipients of the news.
Twice Oscar nominated Morton (“Sweet and Lowdown” and “In America”) completes this trio of powerful performances. All three of the characters are rigidly disciplines to take every shock in the book and survive. As events unfold it turns out that more than discipline will be needed to survive the shocks in this story. True human contact and intimacy will be called on to take the place of the horror of war.
This is a strong film about a very apt subject. Few films have dealt as well with the face-to-face pain of war’s death toll. Harrelson fans will get a real treat since his performance is not just a few token scenes but a fully developed supporting role (if not a lead role). His work reminds one of the intensity of “The Hi-Lo Country,” and his other angst-filled social commentaries. The less experienced Ben Foster does a great job and develops a powerful on-screen chemistry with Harrelson. It must have been difficult for Foster to have matched the more experienced actor’s intensity and avoid being overwhelmed on-screen. It is also great to see Foster get a chance to play a character with such super-sensitized feelings after playing the bulging eyed, nihilistic psycho in “3:10 to Yuma.”
Samantha Morton is good in the movie, but we are still waiting to see what she can do. Steve Buscemi borders on shameless over-acting but is fantastic in his portrayal of a bereaved parent. In terms of intensity per minute on screen, he tops either of the two leads.
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