Film Review: THE MESSENGER
By Norm Schrager at November 20, 2009 | 1:26 am | Print
by Norm Schrager, posted 11.19.09
4 / 5 stars
From Coming Home and Platoon to Jarhead and Stop-Loss, it sometimes seems like every angle of the war experience has been told in recent decades.Then a film like The Messenger quietly surfaces, not only illustrating a unique, lesser-known aspect of war, but doing it exceedingly well.
The Messenger doesn’t take us to a world of roadside bombs and faceless snipers, but its setting is no less painful. Ben Foster, quickly becoming known for his intensity, plays a loner war hero serving his last enlisted months as a member of the Army’s Casualty Notification Service, charged with going door-to-door to officially tell families about a loved one’s death.
As co-writer/director Oren Moverman shows us, it’s a brutal job. Foster’s Sergeant Will Montgomery may have dealt with horrific combat in Iraq, but he’s still a rigid bundle of nerves when approaching a house with mentor/partner Captain Tony Stone (a very solid Woody Harrelson). They have Army protocol to follow, of course, and best practices, but there’s very little to prepare them for family members’ reactions.
It’s that fear of the unknown that Moverman (co-writer of I’m Not There and Jesus’ Son) captures with urgency and tension, usually with veteran cinematographer Bob Bukowski covering those moments with effective hand-held camerawork. The look adds a flavor of spontaneity, and a miserable level of heartbreak to some of the rougher, more emotional action.
While on the job, Stone and Montgomery bring horrible news to Olivia (the exquisite Samantha Morton), a young wife and mom whose husband’s just been killed. Young Will soon discovers an emotional attraction there, and the pair dance around something resembling friendship, perhaps more. When Moverman places the couple in Olivia’s kitchen for a delicate, challenging, single-shot interaction, it becomes clear that The Messenger is a special film — even if just in tone and ambition — with special actors.
Many films would have quickly built something out of the relationship between Olivia and Will, and drowned in their own predictability. Instead, The Messenger practically relegates Olivia to a secondary character as the two soldiers meander through their own little getaway, drinking, fighting, fishing… In fact, they’re the fish out of water, misunderstood soldiers living with guilt and disgust, wandering through through their days. The movie’s path smartly and subtly follows that of its characters, carrying a disillusioned renegade mood that would have fit in well in the 1970s.
Foster and Harrelson are both impressively up to the task, especially the former. Foster plays to his reputation, keeping a layer of rage barely covered, seemingly ready to pounce at any time. When his intentions are kind and tender, it’s obvious that there’s pain lurking that hasn’t been properly tended to. At times, Foster conveys the energy of a young Sean Penn and the brooding thoughtfulness of Ryan Gosling.
As The Messenger heads toward its appropriate conclusion, Moverman makes it clear that, for many soldiers dealing with demons, daily life is a matter of just getting by. There’s no psychological revelation, no grand disaster. But possibly small rays of hope.
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[...] The Messenger, my favorite film of 2009, tells of a troubled soldier without detailing his Iraqi service; Brothers (left), another outstanding film, examines a Marine’s mental state while showing us his most horrific war experiences. Even Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, a great film of puffed-out chests and bad-ass bravado, has a certain pain too. [...]
[...] 1. The Messenger Oren Moverman directed his own script with poise, sadness and a touch of danger. Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster (right) deliver two of the great performances of the year, as a pair of soldiers serving casualty notification duty, being the first to tell military families that a loved one has been lost overseas. Moverman effectively uses a variety of pacing and camera styles to draw you in and let his oustanding cast (including Samantha Morton) do the rest. The Messenger is one of ten films listed by the American Film Institute as standout movies of the year. Check out my full review of The Messenger. [...]