In Oren Moverman's new film, "The Messenger", the first shot of the film is main character Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) putting water drops into his eyes. This is an introduction into Will's life, and represents that everything in the film will be seen from his perspective.
"The Messenger" is about how Will reacts to being put on the Casualty Notification Taskforce in the U.S. after serving a gruesome tour in Iraq. He is partnered with Captain Tony Stone, marvelously played by Woody Harrelson. Stone, ironically, is cold-blooded and emotionless when informing the next of kin (which he reffers to as the N.O.K.) that one of thier loved ones was killed in action in Iraq. After Will and Tony inform a shell-shocked widow that her husband was killed in Iraq, Will becomes attracted to her and a tender relationship blooms between the two.
The film is mostly about Will finding his own path again after returning home, but some of the movie is focused on Stone as well. Will is still the main charecter of the movie, and there is only one scene without him the entire hour and 45 minutes "The Messenger" lasts. Harrelson, who plays Stone, carries most of the scenes between Stone and Will (played by Ben Foster). Foster carries the rest of the movie on his own though, and never needs a helping hand. This is most evident in his scenes with the recent widow, Kelley (played with great levity by Samantha Morton). Morton is fine, but Foster makes the dialouge and directing look so much better with his performance and really elevates the movie to whole other level. This is a Ben Foster movie, even though Harrelson as recieved a lot of buzz about his peformance, the film belongs to Foster.
It is easy to tell sometimes that this is Oren Moverman's directorial debut. The film is sporadic at times, with random scenes back-to-back that have no influence on each other. At other times though, these scenes represent the sporadicness of Will's life. He does not know what to do now that he is back, and his ex-girlfriend is getting married to a rich man while he is courting Kelley at the same time. So Will does whatever he wants, from going to a cabin with Stone and getting drunk to crashing his ex's weddng party. Moverman (who also co-wrote the film) mirrors Will's life expertly at times with this type of writing, but also loses it a little as well.
Moverman's message is clear though. War casualties are not a statistic heard on the news every night, the soldiers who die are real people with real families that hurt and bleed just like everyone else. This movie is a wake-up a call to America. The message is perfectly hidden behind the story of Will, who reveals why he is so traumatized by the war to Stone in the climax of the film. Stone, who served in Desert Storm says at one point in the movie that all he wanted was "to be shot at", and Will puts him in his place with his amazingly well-written and acted monolouge about his "firefight" in Iraq. Stone breaks down and cries after this. He realizes that being shot at in war is not what he ever wanted, and his cold-heartedness to the N.O.K. is totally undeserved.
Foster and Harrelson should both be up for Oscars, as should Moverman for his expert directing and script. Foster's perfromance is so well-done, so real that he will definenelty become a big star one day.
On the techincal side, the film is a little too long and could have used a better editor. The cinematography is brilliant though. The use of the handheld camera when Stone and Will are informing the N.O.K. might remind some of last year's well-done film "The Wrestler" because the only thing shown are the backs of the officers. There is a sense of being there with them, and it makes the reaction of the next of kin that much more impactful. At one point a grieving father says to Will, "Why aren't you over there? Huh? Answer me!". This just explains that no one wants there kids over there, they support them 100%, but death is a very real thing. It just seems so far away on the news. This is Moverman's message, and it's one we all need to hear.
Verdict: GO SEE IT!
****.5/***** (4.5/5 stars)
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