The Messenger Review
Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 01.13.2010
After years of lackluster war movies, 2009 featured two that are receiving awards talk. Is The Messenger worth the commendations it has received?
Directed by Oren Moverman
Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
Cinematography by Bobby Bukowski
Original Music by Nathan Larson
Cast
Ben Foster ... Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery
Jena Malone ... Kelly
Woody Harrelson ... Captain Tony Stone
Steve Buscemi ... Dale Martin
Samantha Morton ... Olivia Pitterson
Jeremy Strong ... Returning Soldier
Runtime: 105 min
MPAA: Rated R for language and some sexual content/nudity. Official Website
There are a lot of hard jobs in life. A doctor battling to save people’s lives has to be one of the most difficult. A fire fighter tasked with racing into a burning home to save the individuals trapped inside is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The job of a soldier, risking his life during gun fights, bombings and various other wartime activities, has to be one of the hardest jobs in the world, and it is all done for the love of their country. A job not as hard but it just as difficult is being the soldiers tasked with driving from city to city, state to state, and informing the families of fallen soldiers that their sons/daughters/spouses/parents have perished fighting for their country. It is those men we are asked to follow in Oren Moverman’s directorial debut The Messenger.
Unlike films such as The Hurt Locker, The Messenger is not about fighting for your country. This is not a movie that relies on intense action and the horrors of battle in the trenches. This is a character study of what affect those battles, and those deaths, have on the soldier’s loved ones back home. This movie is an actor’s showcase and it works as a beautiful meditation on grief and loss thanks to its talented cast.
Woody Harrelson is getting most of the awards recognition, and it is well deserved. The man has always been a quality actor from his leading roles (Natural Born Killers) to his recent comedic brilliance (Zombieland). However, his performance as Captain Tony Stone is a brilliant turn that should net Woody a few statues here and there this awards season. His character is difficult to pin down. He is a career Army man but his only tour of duty was during the first Gulf War, meaning he has never had to fight in the battles of today’s soldiers. He is a recovering alcoholic with personal demons barely revealed in this film. This means he has to deliver a performance that makes you feel his pain and suffering, despite us never understanding what they are. He has been delivering the news of soldier’s deaths for a long time and it is a “by-the-book” job for him, not a problem since he, at one point, states he does not mind being “owned” by the Army.
He is contrasted with the character of Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery. Ben Foster has been a tough guy in a lot of movies over his young career, including Alpha Dog and 3:10 to Yuma. With this performance, he has stepped into the spotlight as one of the top youngsters in Hollywood today. This is not the same kid I discovered in The Punisher and this role should put him at the top of many producer’s must-call lists. His character is atypical of this kind of movie. He is the kid brought in to train with the grizzled veteran but has more field experience than his new mentor. He has three months left in his tour of duty and is assigned to this horrendous task as he counts the days to his release. He is considered a “hero” but never looks at himself in that light. He was wounded in war in an accident that killed a fellow soldier, something he still blames himself for. He is more humane than Tony, unable to stick to the book, oftentimes touching the mourning family members (a no-no) and eventually developing a relationship with a recently widowed woman, Olivia (Samantha Morton).
It is here the script loses a bit of its vitality. The relationship between Will and Olivia is creepy and, despite Will’s shy awkwardness, it seems at points he is stalking this grieving woman and taking advantage of her vulnerability. It is a credit to Morton that she plays her character with a reserve, making it clear she is not jumping into the sack with this new man so soon after her husband’s death, but it still remains an awkward situation.
The supporting cast helps elevate the best parts of the movie, the revelations that loved one’s have perished. Moverman never told Harrelson or Foster what reactions they were going to get when they informed the families. Then he filmed their reactions, which were as real as you could get. One man bent and vomited on the floor in reaction to his son’s death. A Mexican man started to cry uncontrollably while looking at a young girl in his living room when told his daughter had died. The reactions are real but never over the top. However the best performance goes to Steve Buscemi who calls Tony and Will cowards for not being over there dying instead of his son and spitting in Will’s face. He appears later and is just as powerful in the follow-up scene. It is grief personified and is done both delicately and tenderly, allowing very real emotions to flow to the surface.
That is where Moverman is most successful with his story. He oftentimes sits the camera in place and allows his actors to perform the scene without any unneeded camera movements or typical Indie styled handheld work. There is a scene where Will and Olivia carry on a conversation in the kitchen, both slowly discovering their feelings, and he lets the actors do all the work, never cutting away. An even better example is a scene where Will and Tony are talking and Tony explains his battle with alcoholism. The camera has limited cuts to reaction shots but generally sits in a medium shot watching these two amazing actors share the scene in one long take. It is inspired and amazing work by everyone involved.
Moverman is a combat veteran from the Israeli Army and this is his directorial debut. He co-wrote the script, something he has more experience with, as he wrote the amazing Jesus’ Son and the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There. For a debut film, he proves to be right at home behind the camera, giving the film a relaxed pace that never feels boring. He doesn’t need to use the crazed techniques other war movies, such as Stop-Loss, use. This is not a movie about men who have gone crazy. It is about men who have served their country and their place in the “real world”.
There is a pivotal scene in the movie where a young man is at his Welcome Home party at a local bar. Will is sitting at the bar when the young man stands to tell his friends a humorous story about a man he met during the war. His story makes everyone laugh, and even Will lifts his glass in acknowledgment. Then the story abruptly takes a turn and he finishes with a horrific antidote, leaving his friends speechless. It is not the reaction he was going for and only Will, who the camera remains on throughout the story, understands the importance of this young soldier’s recollection. This young man, who is never seen again, explains exactly what this movie is about. Young men go to war and die. Their families are given the news and each react in varying ways, yet all share the same loss and sorrow. No one can understand what any of these people are going through but that is ok. This movie never says war is hell, it simply says that when tragedy strikes someone needs to be there to help break the news to you. This is the story of two of those men and it is one of the best movies of 2009.
The 411: Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster deliver a tour-de-force in The Messenger. For years, Iraq war movies have been released and no one cared. 2009 saw two more of these movies released and the filmmakers involved finally get it right. This is not a movie about a war that many people refuse to support. This is a movie about the people back home, people like you and I, who have their hearts torn from their chests when they learn they have lost a loved one. This is a heartbreaking movie that never feels melodramatic and remains tender and moving. Oren Moverman’s directorial debut has me excited to see what the man will do next. The Messengers is still being slowly released across America and if it comes to a theater close to you, it is not a movie to miss.
