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Title: The Messenger
Year: 2009
Language: English
Country: USA
Genre: Drama, War
Director: Oren Moverman
Writers:
Alessandro Camon
Oren Moverman
Cast:
Ben Foster
Woody Harrelson
Samantha Morton
Jena Malone
Jahmir Duran-Abreau
Lisa Joyce
Steve Buscemi
Eamonn Walker
Yaya DaCosta
Halley Feiffer
Peter Friedman
Portia
Merritt Wever
Rating: 8/10

Even securing Hollywood veteran Woody Harrelson his second Oscar nomination, the film has eluded me until now, and a long overdue viewing proves it is an overlooked gem on the recent war-trauma film list.

The breakthrough effort of the film is its one-of-a-kind perspective, with zero scenes from the violent frontline (including the usual gambit of fly-on-the-wall clips), the modus operandi aims at the ominous casualty notification soldiers and one theatrical oomph originates from the various poignant reactions from the next-of-kins of dead soldiers in Iraq when they are being notified, a faintly tricky scheme to gain the empathy towards both the film and its main characters, which is a laudable feat and very operative due to a splendid cast and unostentatious script (the formality of notification is swell written).

Budding as one of the versatile young actors in Hollywood, Ben Foster excels in his not-so-frequent leading role as an ostensible war-hero plagued by a hidden secret, typifies ideally a post-war anguish-tortured individual. Foster generates a magnificent screen chemistry both with his tutor-cum-friend Woody Harrelson (a well-developed supporting role as Foster’s superior captain, whose behind-the-scene background story is finely underlined by Harrelson’s scene-stealing faculty) and with a never-disheartening Samantha Morton, the paragraph when Morton unravels her inner affection and grief to Foster in her home is a total tour-de-force.

So, the war-blasting viewpoint has been established in both cases with its direct victims potently (soldiers and their families), all the proofs are indisputable, and for majority of its audience who has no mighty to change any political imbroglio towards warfare, the film at least hardens the determination of respecting each individual in a more altruistic way and maybe the world will get better day by day.

Pitch perfect acting and a difficult, wordy screenplay distinguish this war themed indy from last year, about the ways in which war and tragedy affect human communication. After suffering a devastating injury in Iraq, soldier Ben Foster is commissioned back home to finish the remainder of his duty as a Casualty Notification officer, paired with a stern, cynical, broken older soldier (Woody Harrelson in an Oscar nominated turn) who follows the rules of the job to a fault, leaving him a bitter shell. It’s easy to see the path Foster is going to take if he follows the older man in his attitude, but the screenplay is smarter than to present the character with only one option, and faced with unbearable grief every day, the men find a kind of sacrificial friendship through their unique position, and the film becomes less about the physical act of reporting death to next of kin, than about how the war brings it’s psychological baggage back home, to everyone, and how that comes to dictate the rules of normal relationships. Excellent debut from first time director Oren Moverman, with thematic shades of everything from “Coming Home” to “The Best Years of Our Lives”.

Ben Foster plays a soldier back from the Middle East – a very strong, very silent type, Foster’s apparent preference: quiet, smoldering intensity. Foster kicks ass. With three months till he is discharged, he is assigned to be an Angel of Death; knocking on doors and breaking bad [news] to the loved ones of recently dead soldiers (all of these scenes are experienced without cuts) under the tutelage of veteran consoler Woody Harrelson. Foster cultivates an oh-so-sensitive quiet cerebral relationship with a widow whom he follows a bit, Foster & Harrelson drive through their assignments and we get lots of male bonding, a few war stories, and more than a little time spent alone in rooms… Sorry, what was I saying? Drifted off there for a moment. It’s a big fat indie drama setup, and can join 100 more indie films about dealing with loss and starting over.

Actually Messenger was fine. Very understated – successfully so. The jokes worked. The timing was solid. Never really lingered too long (‘cept that kitchen scene). Technically there’s little wrong with it. It’s just me… wicked impatient. I was going with the film fine until three-quarters of the way through when quite suddenly I wanted to tear my hair out and/or leave immediately. I did neither. And that was for the best, I spose. Messenger wouldn’t have been endurable without the inspired casting of Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson. The rest of the cast are passably utilized with the exceptions of Jena Malone, who rises higher and whom we always appreciate, and Steve Buscemi, who, hard as he tries, should perhaps not be called upon to take on a charged emotional role (here, grieving father) – or Moverman didn’t know how to utilize him. It is his first offense, so it’s forgivable. But I really like Foster. There’s no doubt that he’s a workhorse and a very intuitive observer of emotional minutiae. He made what could’ve been a rather dull film much more engaging. And of course Harrelson is ever entertaining. Typically cast as an outspoken, loveable and intelligent enough Bumpkin, he doesn’t seem to have any problem with it. He also works very hard, and very frequently. As does Malone – and yes Buscemi too. So again: mostly great casting. Keep it up and no matter how slow your films are, they’ll remain watchable.

written by David Ashley
killerstencil.wordpress.com

A very good film, with several moving scenes and performances.
It’s like the cast was made to guarantee my enjoyment. Ben Foster’s intensity has never been better; Harrelson adds to a great comeback year (I’ve always been a fan); Samantha Morton is one of my favourite actors and continues to astound me with her range; Jena Malone’s as cute as always; Buscemi brought his A game for his two scenes; and Eamonn Walker was barely in this but was great on “Oz” way back when, so it was nice to see him again.

Most times I feel that the story of a soldier’s return home is more interesting than anything that might have happened while overseas in battle. I think it has a lot to do with my enjoyment in a good story told with riveting performances, and what subject matter can deliver unforgettable acting fodder than readjusting to civilian life post-military? Oren Moverman’s film The Messenger doesn’t fall into that category completely as our main character still has three months of his tour before being discharged, but the emotions and the memories of what happened in Iraq are still there, hidden beneath a hard exterior, wanting to be both expressed and forgotten at the same time. A war hero who saved the lives of many of his comrades during a firefight, Will Montgomery has a bum leg and a spotty eye for his troubles, so instead of being sent back, he is given the duty of telling next of kin that their spouse, child, sibling has been killed.

It’s not quite the job someone who has just gotten back to America after rough fighting would wish for, but it is what has been given to him and the army needs standup soldiers to do it. We as an audience don’t really know what occurred in Iraq, but we can see the pain and sorrow behind Ben Foster’s eyes, portraying Will. He becomes quiet when spoken to as a hero and he takes the new job more as a responsibility than anything he wants to do. It is one that has been given to him and he will do it. Telling his superior officer and trainer, Woody Harrelson’s Captain Tony Stone, that he will take point on only his second dispatch, he is out to prove he can do it. The rules state that you do not touch the next of kin, you do not use vague words like ‘gone’ or ‘fallen’, instead it is killed or died, and you do not talk to anyone but the person you’ve been assigned. The army doesn’t want the fishbowl nature of a 21st century world to break the news to a family through the internet or a nightly broadcast, they want to be the ones to do it. The army is a family and they take care of their own. So, to do the job, one must be strong enough to not cry, composed enough to not react when hit or berated, and compassionate enough to deliver the news with sympathy and clarity.

These two see it all during the course of their mission. We see the pregnant girlfriend offering tea while waiting for the deceased’s mother to arrive back home; the angry, inconsolable father who turns his sorrow into abuse on the messengers; the father in a small apartment watching his daughter’s baby while she was off to war; and the unknowing father-in-law just discovering his daughter got married and having his rage turn quickly to compassion when the news is broken. This job alone could drive a man to drink whether he had served time first or not. Of course, for that reason, Harrelson’s character has been sober for three years, (his father was an alcoholic), and Foster has taken to sleeping on the floor with only a desk lamp serving as light in his room. These two men have known nothing else but the army and for some reason have made this heartbreaking job into a career, a service for the men and women who don’t get a happy ending when all is said and done. Harrelson fought in the Gulf War and so his getting in the line of emotional fire is his battle, and Foster seems to be continuing this work as a sort of atonement for what happened during his stay in the Middle East.

While the interactions between these two soldiers, on the job or off of it in bars and commiserating or trying to pick up women, there also enters a subplot of love. Foster lost his girlfriend to another man while he was gone and has not gotten over it—her picking him up when released from the hospital for a conjugal visit surely doesn’t help his head in that respect any. And it ends up that Foster’s Will has much more heart than he may have originally let on to. He wants to treat these victims as human beings and be able to console them, but it is not his job to do so. As a result, he starts to get close to one widow, (the always fantastic Samantha Morton), creating a relationship that could be construed as many things other than one of comforting through grief. He has lost the only girl he had ever known and she a husband that began to choose the army over her. He may be an insensitive scumbag and she a slut, but it could also just be that these two need each other in tough times. How this pairing evolves and where it ends up had the potential to be very wrong morally, but I think Moverman and Alessandro Camon wrote it just right with complete honesty and grace. Their time together only adds another layer to Foster’s role, fleshing out his motivations and his troubles.

The Messenger is not some big bombastic tale that will be shoved in your face or action-packed. It is a very deliberately paced and intelligently told drama delving into the psyche of broken men looking for answers. The entire thing is driven by Foster and Harrelson’s stirring portrayals as they put up facades and barriers to their true selves, only letting the real people inside out when a level of trust can be seen. Stone says early on about how men don’t ask for directions and when the going gets tough you must man-up to the occasion, but all those words are social constraints he has allowed himself to become a part of. The film shows you what makes up who he really is and opens Will Montgomery as well, eventually telling us what really happened to his eye in a powerful scene towards the end, a full culmination of everything that had happened and an official nail into the bond these men have created between each other. There are laughs along the way and tears for sure, and with these two actors at the top of their game—and some real nice supporting work from the likes of Morton and Steve Buscemi—the whole becomes a journey worthy of your time. It’s a look into the face of humanity and the strength of the soul. Once you come back from seeing war, you don’t always get the chance to forget about it to become an insurance salesman.

The Messenger 8/10

http://jaredmobarakreviews.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/the-messenger/