Review of "The Messenger"
The Detroit News
Taut, fierce and sharpened to a point, "The Messenger" is about the shockwaves and pain, within and without, caused by war.
Featuring potent, Oscar-mention turns from stars Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, this is a film that looks at what havoc the battlefield wreaks thousands of miles away from any gunfire.
Foster plays tightly wound Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, recently returned from Iraq, dealing with the aftermath of some injuries, an acknowledged hero. To his surprise, he is assigned the duty of delivering death notices to the survivors of those killed in the war.
Guiding him is Captain Tony Stone (Harrelson). In full-dress uniform, they approach the doors of people whose hearts they are about to break. Stone has all the formalities down -- the clipped consolation, the brevity of stay, the avoidance of painful questions or any emotional involvement. It's all precise, polite and detached.
But try as he might, Montgomery can't quite turn his inner anguish off, so it connects where it shouldn't. This leads him to a relationship with a woman (Samantha Morton, realistically dowdy) after he's delivered the bad news to her.
Director-writer Oren Moverman, co-writing with Alessandro Camon, never plays big here. He's following Montgomery's relationships, and the terrible situations he encounters, and letting that be enough, because it certainly is.
The beauty in Foster's portrayal is that it never completely explodes, but anger and aching seethe behind his eyes. Harrelson, meanwhile, is a good old boy with a bad old job.
With this film, the earlier “The Hurt Locker," and the upcoming "Brothers," it's clear that films about our current wars are not going to go away. And they shouldn't. These are tragedies that can't be denied. And "The Messenger" honors them.
Taut, fierce and sharpened to a point, "The Messenger" is about the shockwaves and pain, within and without, caused by war.
Featuring potent, Oscar-mention turns from stars Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, this is a film that looks at what havoc the battlefield wreaks thousands of miles away from any gunfire.
Foster plays tightly wound Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, recently returned from Iraq, dealing with the aftermath of some injuries, an acknowledged hero. To his surprise, he is assigned the duty of delivering death notices to the survivors of those killed in the war.
Guiding him is Captain Tony Stone (Harrelson). In full-dress uniform, they approach the doors of people whose hearts they are about to break. Stone has all the formalities down -- the clipped consolation, the brevity of stay, the avoidance of painful questions or any emotional involvement. It's all precise, polite and detached.
But try as he might, Montgomery can't quite turn his inner anguish off, so it connects where it shouldn't. This leads him to a relationship with a woman (Samantha Morton, realistically dowdy) after he's delivered the bad news to her.
Director-writer Oren Moverman, co-writing with Alessandro Camon, never plays big here. He's following Montgomery's relationships, and the terrible situations he encounters, and letting that be enough, because it certainly is.
The beauty in Foster's portrayal is that it never completely explodes, but anger and aching seethe behind his eyes. Harrelson, meanwhile, is a good old boy with a bad old job.
With this film, the earlier “The Hurt Locker," and the upcoming "Brothers," it's clear that films about our current wars are not going to go away. And they shouldn't. These are tragedies that can't be denied. And "The Messenger" honors them.
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