The Messenger
War movies – they’re everywhere. The terror of battle, the difficulty reintegrating after battle, man’s inhumanity to man, the heroism, it’s all been explored in film in different eras, different political climates, but we have never seen anything like the Messenger. The details are contemporary, but the heart of the story could be the same for any war.
Ben Foster is an Iraq war veteran discharged for injuries who has been assigned to a two-man casualty notification unit with Woody Harrelson. Harrelson is an old hand at this work; he inducts Foster into this sacred, difficult, awful work with a gruff but professional sensitivity and detachment. While Foster is a super creepy casting choice for the role of Sgt. Montgomery, Harrelson is perfect. His Captain Stone is a Desert Storm vet, relatively unmarred by his combat experience. Harrelson has got a beaten up, mean look about him, but the actor’s sweet and squishy center comes out in unexpected moments.
Meanwhile, Foster has a multitude of inner and outer scars that run deep from his tour. Foster can’t even weep for the fallen soldiers he is reporting, thanks to an eye injury. Foster becomes entangled with a young widow (Samantha Morton) and they have some wonderful scenes together that humanize Foster as well as demystify some of the abstraction of Fallen War Heroes.
It’s fascinating to watch them negotiate procedures for sensitivity – acting with feeling but also by the book. Of course Foster has difficulty maintaining the distance he needs, and Harrelson has problems keeping their association strictly professional. It’s procedurally possible but emotionally crippling to squash one’s feelings completely in the faces of the next of kin as they hear the news. The few responses we are privy to are painful and sobering, even knowing nothing about the dead or their families just minutes before. My stomach plummeted when I realized that these guys have a full time job doing these notifications just in their part of the city or state.
Scenes run in long, uninterrupted takes, with little camera movement, just full focus on the actors’ words. At first you might not notice, but then you realize we’ve just been watching one long intense monologue without breaking eye contact with the speaker for a good while. The score is practically invisible – all the feeling and tension is springing from these long, emotional takes. The story is a little aimless, somewhat unresolved, but a worthy subject for examination. This is the kind of film people might skip due to the preponderance of war movies out there, or forget in the wake of flashier end-of-the-year output, but The Messenger is one to watch for great performances.
MPAA R-language and some sexual content/nudity
Release date 11/13/09
Time in minutes 105
Director Oren Moverman
Studio Oscilloscope Pictures
