THE MESSENGER is by far and away one of the best works of art that addresses the deep tragedy behind the current U.S. war in the Middle East that I've seen. THE MESSENGER is an attempt by Director Oren Moverman and screen writer Alessandro Camon to place themselves between the ears of two career soldiers who serve a vital place in U.S. Army Special Services, Casualty Notification teams who inform the families of soldiers that their family member has been killed in battle. As someone who remembers full well the devastating feeling you got in your insides when you saw these teams turn up at the quarters of friends and their families when my own father was serving in Vietnam in the late 1960s, I found the film an important effort.

Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) is a Iraqi war veteran recovering from a battlefield wound who is reassigned to a State Department and United States Army Casualty Notification team, which is led by Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson). Montgomery is also facing an impending breakup with his girlfriend Kelly (Jena Malone), who is playing him off against a wealthy, established suitor. When he is assigned to Stone's team, he is at first resentful. The military decorum which is demanded of the Casualty Notification Team is very exacting, with learned routines that come from a spit and polish military professionalism that requires a distance that is extremely difficult to attain.

What follows is a series of well connected vignettes, in which the younger soldier is asked to stride this nether world between the jaundiced, dry-drunk outlook of the seasoned bearer of bad news, Captain Stone. Stone is a bitter man with some frustrated ambitions of his own, which are revealed late in the film. Obsessed with sexual victories and teeter tottering between professional sobriety and complete emotional collapse, Stone is far from a steady colleague mentor. Encounters between he and Montgomery go into emotional roller coaster as each man learns to accept the other on his own terms while acting out an extremely trying professional military role.

In short time, Montgomery comes into contact with the widow of a soldier who sparks his interest, and becomes torn between professionalism and attraction to the young widow Olivia Pitterson (Samantha Morton). Montgomery is forced to grow into himself, despite his outward cynicism, and in short time begins to mentor his mentor, Captain Stone. The story has an open ending, with Montgomery seeking to be part of the life of widow Olivia as she is seeking to reestablish herself in New Orleans. No morals are offered, and this is the true strength of the work as a whole. There isn't much humor to be found here, but watch for the scene where a bender fried Montgomery and Stone attend the wedding reception of the woman who has broken Montgomery's heart. The lampoon of upper middle class phoniness is priceless.

The beauty of THE MESSENGER is that it does not fall into the usual pro war or antiwar camps that film making in an era like our own are usually so encumbered with. The film makers are ambitious and restrained. I have no idea whether the plot line is itself "contrived" as some here have argued, which I have to say is a rather ridiculous critique given that movies are rarely anything but "contrived", and this is particularly true of the genre we call the war film. Some who have written here seem to believe that the film discredits the "professionalism" of those who do the work of Stone and Montgomery, as though "professionalism" were itself some sort of fetish that protects one from emotional or mental illness generated by both war time trauma and the mystique of military culture. Such are the times in which we live, ideological blather is rampant.

THE MESSENGER is important because, in the words of that great Vietnam war era politician, the late President Lyndon Baines Johnson, it is art, it shows us who we are, not who we say we are, not who we think we are, but who we are as a people, and as a political culture. At various moments, it is clunky. But it is an early effort to give some true definition about what the debacle in Iraq has done to our culture, and to the people who are expected to do the dirty work of the empire's war machine. It is a rare gem in mainstream contemporary U.S. film making.

Brilliantly acted film depicting two soldiers whose job it is to inform families when loved ones are killed in battle. Harrelson has never been better and Foster more than matches him all the way. It's emotional and engaging and genuinely painful at times. I had always thought how hard it must be to carry out such a job but had never really considered just what psychologically damage it could do long term to the person doing it. Harrelson depicts a man who has been doing the job far too long brilliantly and Foster in turn shows just what it can do to you initially. It's a perfect blend and the chemistry is excellent from start to finish. Deserves a much wider release and is with out doubt one of the best films of last year.

After countless inert and strangely uninvolving films that have been released over the last few years and have used the war on terror as a backdrop for their action ("Jarhead," "Rendition," "Stop-Loss," more I can't even recall at the moment), 2009 produced two films that finally feel plugged directly into the tone the war has taken in our culture -- one of wearying sadness.

One of those films was "The Hurt Locker," and the other is "The Messenger," Oren Moverman's somber and haunting story about a troubled soldier back from the front lines who's assigned the task of notifying people about the deaths of their loved ones in the conflict. I can't vouch for the accuracy of either film, but I can say that both communicate the same emotions I feel when I see or hear first-hand accounts about what's going on overseas. I'm not enraged or galvanized into either pro or con positions -- I'm simply depressed by the meandering, pointlessness of it all and the human waste.

The acting trio of Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, as Foster's instructor in how to be a harbinger of death and especially Samantha Morton, as the widow of one of the dead with whom Foster strikes up a romance of sorts, are formidable, and the film feels authentic in its settings and in the people who populate them. If you had to label the film one way or another, you would definitely have to come down on the side of anti-war. But it's really too resigned and matter-of-fact for that label to fit, and that's what I like about it. It almost seems to be saying that being anti-war is beside the point. Wars are always going to exist, and to be opposed to them is a waste of time. What's most troubling to think about are the innumerable number of lives that are going to be snuffed out because of them.

In a film filled with terrific scenes, the one that haunts me most is the one set in Morton's kitchen where she tells Foster about the relationship she shared with her dead husband. Filmed as one long take, the scene is mesmerizing, and Morton is so good I can't imagine how she managed to go overlooked at end-of-year awards time.

Grade: A

The Messenger has incredible acting by Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, and Samantha Morton.

The film has a curious flow to it. It begins predictable, yet remains engaging, exposing a heart-breaking consequence of war no family wants to face. Although the news remains the same, emotions run just as deep at each door. Every scene is handled marvelously through subtle performances by the actors. As the film unfolds, the viewer sinks into the complex characters on screen, discomforted by the internal struggles that slowly surface.

The Messenger is a non-linear, character-driven film with exceptional performances but might not be for everyone.

I will not reiterate the plot of The Messenger; it has been done exhaustively already. The relevant facts, to me, are: This movie is a work of art in which the intentions of the director, writer, cinematographer and actors are all united. The actors, especially leads Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton, give subtle, nuanced performances. The plot is not cookie-cutter; you cannot guess what is going to happen at every turn. It is serious at its core but is not devoid of humor.

Lately, I have been happier with the older movies I see on cable than the movies showing in theaters. This is the exception.

I'm normally pretty hesitant about watching movies that have to do with war, but I'm glad that I chose to watch The Messenger. The movie took a completely different stance than what I'm used to when watching a movie about war. I never really thought about the people that had to deliver the message about a loved one that died in the military, and the way the story is told made me really care for the characters and feel for Harrelson's and Foster's characters and the important job that they have to perform. I would never want to have to do their job, but I truly respect the people that have to perform that job on a daily basis.

Harrelson, Foster and Samantha Morton put on really powerful performances that I honestly believed. And the rest of the cast did a fine job, as well. The emotion was so intense that I could feel it, and I easily got sucked into the story. It was a powerful movie that really made me think about the hardships in a sincere and thoughtful way. Overall, I enjoyed the film and I will continue recommending it to all my friends because I think everybody should watch it at least once. The story sticks with you long after you finish watching the movie.

I saw The Messenger (as well as Oren Moverman and Ben Foster luckily) at the 2009 Philadelphia Film Festival and can say sincerely that I was captivated and moved by it for the majority of its runtime. No matter what your background or stance on the war, you need not worry because it is not a movie that attempts to have an opinion, but merely one that captures a different kind of war- one between civilians and the military, between following procedure and following what you believe.

In his last three months of service, Officer Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), is assigned to be a messenger to next-of-kins who have died in Iraq alongside the elder Lieutenant Anthony Stone (Woody Harrelson). He struggles with being the bearer of bad news to heartbroken parents and wives, delivering the messages to people of all ages, ethnicities, and social classes. His work becomes compromised, however, when complications with his girlfriend arise and he becomes involved with one of the widows, challenging his ethical and moral considerations. He plays the younger, more vulnerable to Harrelson's gruff, uncompromising, and often cold ethic.

The film is, in a word, compassionate, as it is almost entirely character-driven. The chemistry between Foster and Harrelson is incredible, demonstrating talent beyond the range of what one would expect for both actors. I would be very surprised if either one of these two were not nominated for an Academy Award. The cinematography is also very unusual, filmed in long takes, letting scenes unfold, rather than wide/medium/close- up/reverse formula, and heavily based on improvisation.

All in all, The Messenger is a touching story about the differences we can make in others' lives simply by being the right person to break the news and having an open heart. It's a tribute to the men and women in arms without letting political differences get in the way. A story of the war at home shared alike by civilians and military, it's hard not to feel emotionally affected.

I was fortunate enough to see this at the recent NY Drama Critics showcase, where both the director (Mr. Moverman) and a co-star (Woody Harrelson) participated in after-show Q&A. First of all, the film is superb - but the summaries I've seen so far do not do justice to what the movie is really about. Sure there are ethical dilemmas, sure there are soldiers who have returned from Iraq. But the great strength of this film is its focus on individual human beings and their reaction to humans' most important concerns: life, death and love. Oren Moverman - accomplishing this so beautifully, accurately and subtly in a small-budget film - is to be congratulated. Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster and Samantha Morton are all magically on the same wavelength in their performances. And the writing (by Camon and Moverman) acknowledges the fact that reasonably intelligent people might be watching... people who don't need every little detail spelled out. Oh yes - I should mention that there's a lot of humor interspersed throughout. The result of all this? The people you meet in this film will stay with you for a very long time - and you'll be glad for that.

The Messenger is being overshadowed by other war films like The Hurt Locker, yet it is different and a great film. It has a very slow pace, but it has some incredibly powerful scenes and some amazing acting. Woody Harrelson is getting Oscar buzz for his performance, and he does deserve it. He has had a great year, with this and Zombieland. As great as he was, though, Ben Foster is just as great. Samantha Morton is probably better than both because she possesses a subtle and powerful gesture that only she has. I have only seen her in one other film, Synecdoche, New York, and she plays completely different types of personalities in both. Here, she is very quiet, but she is able to portray the reason why Foster's character is intrigued by her. The job that Stone and Montgomery (Foster and Harrelson) have is very difficult to do, and this is the first film to portray a job like that that I have seen. The director and writer did a great job. One of the flaws is that by the ending the film has no real directional focus, and this is a flaw in the screenplay. However, still a great film that should be seen not just for Harrelson but for the entire cast. Don't let the subject matter turn you away

Another gloomy drama depicting what life is like when back home in wartime; this movie features some really great acting performances and a subject that resonates every time very powerfully. The plot hasn't been developed too much, as the story feels more focused on the characters, on their moody and attitudes/emotions. It's about a remarkable direction relying very much on the introspective work of the lead actors. Ben Foster is terrific as a man permanently on the edge, Woody Harrelson excellent as well as one who's crossed the edge already. Impressive is also the approach to heroism, without ever simplifying it and with a strong attention to the story-telling detail. And even though the plot takes a couple of contrived turns, there's a subtle, observant film-making about what's going on inside the characters for a change.

The job of notifying next of kin by the Army Casualty Notification Unit is an extremely sensitive one. Such a job is not entrusted to just anyone in the military—you have to undergo significant training before you're assigned to such a specialized unit. That's why it's hard to believe that Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) would be thrust into the job when he only has three months of enlistment time left. What's more, would the Sergeant have been chosen since he's only recently come back from Iraq and may have been traumatized there? As for his training, his commanding officer, Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), merely throws a training manual in his lap and expects him to learn the job as they go along.

To confess, I'm a bit biased against movies such as 'The Messenger' because I find characters who like themselves to be vastly more compelling and believable than those who don't. In general, characters who don't like themselves are dull and rarely add to the dramatic flow of the narrative (can you imagine a sad-sack Tony Soprano ever capturing the public's imagination?). The strategy of the Messenger's scenarists is to start us off with the two angst-ridden soldiers, Montgomery and Stone, and eventually show how they redeem themselves by overcoming their depressing background and circumstances.

Montgomery is basically a putz who can't accept the fact that his former girlfriend has dumped him and is now engaged to someone else (how many sad-sack soldiers do you know who would actually show up at an ex-girlfriend's wedding intoxicated and wearing unwashed military fatigues?). The implication of course is that somehow, due to being traumatized in Iraq, he would end up acting that way. The contrived wedding scene is designed to show Montgomery at his lowest moment—after acting in such a boorish manner, he can now redeem himself by lending a helping hand to Olivia (Samantha Morton), the widow who he recently notified that her husband had been killed in action.

Similarly, Captain Stone also has self-esteem issues. On the surface, his by-the-book demeanor masks a deep self-hatred. This is manifested in his constant skirt-chasing and avoidance of any meaningful relationships with women. The basic question arises: would the Military actually have put someone like Captain Stone in charge of an army Casualty Notification Unit (i.e. someone so broken and negative?). I would suggest that such a negative character is a complete exaggeration anyway, designed merely to create dramatic scenarios where none would exist truly in reality. But even if such a character existed, he would probably be the last chosen by the military to head a Casualty Notification Unit.

It takes a good deal of time before the central conflict comes to a head between Stone and Montgomery. And that is basically Montgomery believes in being a little more sensitive when notifying the next of kin as opposed to Stone who wants to follow 'procedures'. That's about the essence of the conflict between the two principals and when they finally confront each other, it's not much of a payoff. The sub-plot involves Montgomery trying to start things up with Olivia—his decision to not make the moves on her is designed to show that he's a 'good guy' after all and through his efforts to help her, shows that he's attained a measure of redemption.

The Messenger also consists of various scenes in which the next of kin are notified of the deaths of their loved ones. Given the variety of the people we meet, it's probably the most interesting aspect of the film. Steve Buscemi's performance is probably the most notable (for better or worse) of these characters, where he strikes Montgomery after being notified about the death of his son, and later offers a rather predictable apology.

I've read that the men and women who perform the job of the Casualty Notification Units are dedicated, trained professionals who by the nature of their employment, must set an example by living lives of great integrity (unlike the two troubled malcontents in 'The Messenger'). The contrived characters of 'The Messenger' do nothing to enhance the reputation of these specialized units; rather, their opposition feels artificial, contrived, all part of a plot artifice that calls for the type of conflict one might expect to see in the movies but never in real life. While I have no doubt, 'The Messenger' was meticulously researched as to how these Notification units operate, it still feels like it was written by an outsider. 'The Messenger' might have gotten many of its 'facts' right, but unfortunately I could not believe I was watching a story about real people.

I thought this an incredibly clumsy film where the two main characters didn't really seem to be part of any military organization, completely on their own when not doing their notification duty.

The actual"notifications" seemed equally clumsy as if the director and screen writer hadn't bothered to determine the actual procedure (from a website):

"I've been trained to do Casualty Assistance and Notification duties ... When the casualty affairs office receives notice of a death, they wait on positive identification, then they look at the soldier's records to find out who to notify. While this is going on, the Casualty Notification Officer (CNO) is informed that there was a death, and has to don the proper uniform (Class A) and go to the Casualty Affairs office for a briefing. Part of the briefing is to receive a statement containing the proper words to use to tell the primary next of kin (PNOK)..."

Incredible that these two misfits would be entrusted with such a sensitive assignment and in the case of the Sargent, with no training whatsoever. There was no briefing re the KIA, just a beeper. And instead of a customized message, it was the same canned speech in every case.

The bonding of the officer and EM seems highly unusual, apparently both living off base which was never referred to.The Iraq veteran's health status was introduced but never resolved and the pair in fatigues crashing and being accepted/included in the Iraq vet's ex-girlfriend's engagement party seemed especially forced and unreal.

So, I go to IMDb and check the external reviews where every reviewer seems to have abandoned their critical faculties. Without exception, all are heaping high praise on it, I'm guessing eager to laud this "tribute" to the fallen and their families. I thought it was a very poor telling of a potentially great story.

Ben Foster is officially a man, not a college kid or winged teenage mutant.

In THE MESSENGER he portrays a seriously wounded soldier who takes no consolation in having saved the lives of his men or surviving. He must still perform self-administered medical routines each day as a result of his injuries, he doesn't make miraculous recovery and he can't just "forget." With three months left in his stint, he is assigned to a notification detail under the command of a jaded and harsh soldier played by Woody Harrelson. It is their job to tell people their relative has been killed in war.

It is annoying that the angle of him overstepping bounds with a widow, because this has been done poorly in so many films. The fact that they become friends is far enough over the bounds for the soldier. This is a beautifully and sensitively handled situation that looks and sounds real, not contrived.

The responses from the people who are notified of their loss are too striking to be fake. I'll need to read more on development of this script, but I encourage you who see this movie to be prepared: it is touching and gripping in its rawness.

If you are the kind of film-goer who likes to be emotionally and cognitively challenged by film -- even if it's difficult -- this is a must-see.

"Where seldom is heard a discouraging word . . ."

All the words in The Messenger are discouraging, a film about two soldiers who deliver the news of deaths to next of kin. Ben Foster as Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery and Woody Harrelson as Captain Tony Stone evoke the pathos and terror of the delivery, which no one could ever be prepared for or endure without pain.

Just as Kathryn Bigelow's Hurt Locker reduces the horror of the Iraq War to a manageable microcosm of the horror of IUD's with her study of a bomb squad, so too does director Oren Moverman take that war and crystallize it in the terrifying acts of delivering and receiving the Secretary of the Army's condolences. Never is there a light moment except when the two soldiers get drunk and sing Home on the Range, an ironic song of tranquility amidst chaos.

The dramatic moments of this memorable film are many because the premise should not be taken lightly or romanticized, like battle itself. The message of the film and its titular heroes is so desperately depressing that only superior actors such as Foster and Harrelson could make you feel at home on this range.

This movie seems to depict a particular job very specific (if you read the storyline you know what I mean, for all the others who don't want to read spoilers, I will leave it to you to find out for yourself) and very clearly. Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster are really great in a movie with a slow pace.

Apart from the slow pace, you will also notice that it shot almost like a documentary. The two main actors have a good vibe going on and their interaction is always great. The unlikely pair work phenomenally together. Some of the stories told seem to be true and the matter is handled very carefully. Whether you like the movie or not, will depend on whether you think the story has enough material to be told. I liked it

Thank God for the war in Iraq so that we can have movies as important as "The Messenger."

That's how it feels.

In the "The Messenger," Montgomery (Ben Foster) is returning home from the war only to be put on casualty notification work with Stone (Woody Harrelson). That's the setup. In the same way that Avatar's plot is the setup for special effects, The Messenger's is the setup for tears - tears bought, not earned. It promises to give us the real deal on grieving families and soldiers returning home, but in it's overwritten, overstylized way, it's really only about one thing: the audience member's susceptibility to shameless emotional manipulation.

Foster is a shell-shocked vet and Harrelson is a career soldier who's never seen action. Harrelson deals with his work through denial, Foster - the hero of the story - through a certain brand of, what I would call, "righteous nihilism." Foster had a girl he left home, played by Jena Malone, who shows up in the beginning for some nude scenes - shot from behind, with the nudity obscured just enough to keep this arty and tasteful. Malone and Foster have a conversation about marriage that turns out (in a clever gotchya! moment) to refer to Malone and her new fiancée, not Foster.

Foster was injured in the war. His left eye is dried out and he must give it constant eye-drops, providing a nice visual metaphor for a man who's been hardened and has to force himself to cry. Charlie Kaufman already used this image for laughs in "Synecdoche, NY," and I think he had the right idea. Foster apparently has another injury in his leg, but it doesn't seem to effect his walking and indeed it's rarely brought up.

The casualty notification scenes each come with their own gimmick. A dead soldier's pregnant girlfriend Foster and Harrelson have to awkwardly wait with while the soldier's mother comes home from the convenience store. A man who's surprised to find out his daughter didn't tell him she married the dead soldier before he left. A man who requires a translator. They accidentally run into a parent in a gas station, right before they were supposed to call on him, which in this movie is like the equivalent of a mad killer jumping out from the side of the screen in a horror movie.

They only have two standard runs that I recall, both with celebrities. The first is Steve Buscemi, as a father, who responds to news of his son's death by gazing tearfully off-screen and speechifying: "Look at that tree..." The second is Samantha Morton, as a widow. She handles it as politely as she can, and Morton handles the scene like a professional. A romance starts brewing between her and the Foster character. But it's forbidden, forbidden!

I knew I was in trouble about ten minutes into this dreck when Foster argues he can't do the work because he's not religious and Harrelson responds somberly, "You're not there for God. You're not there for heaven." Morton, later on, talks about finding her husband's shirt in the closet. This is what she says: "It smelled of rage and fear. It smelled of the man he had become." It's the kind of script that, if you had no taste, you'd think it deserved an Oscar nomination.

This mannered quality isn't only in the way it's written, but in the way it's shot. For the most part it's filmed with a stable, occasionally moving camera - except for the casualty notification scenes, which are straight-up hand-held shaky-cam. This is to communicate the...shakiness of the emotions, I guess. There's a long (and I mean long) conversation between Foster and Morton that's shot in one take, but it feels like the director was thinking, "I wanna try out one of those cool long take things like Mike Leigh does."

It's not all bad. The performances by Harrelson, Morton, Malone and Buscemi are effective (I'm still not sold on Foster, with his attitude, who comes off more like the lead singer of a really "dark" rock band than like a soldier who's seen action). The last half hour, when it leaves the casualty notification stuff behind and focuses on the main characters, works pretty well. There's a final monologue that illustrates what it's trying to illustrate without getting too poetic about it.

But by that point I was already too angry. I hated...most of this movie.

5/10

Maybe its me or I am just getting tired of all these movies coming out focusing on Americas war involvement and the consequences of it. we had that tommy Lee Jones movie and his missing movie and in this Oscar run The Hurt Locker (which is streets ahead of this movie in terms of entertainment and quality).

The acting is on a par but the story is not and I find the Tony Stone character somewhat tiresome and tedious. Ben Foster acts extremely well but overall he is placid except for the little outburst at his ex-girlfriends engagement party.

After the first couple of home visits, I feel the film runs out of steam and we are distracted by Ben Fosters surprise and curious attraction to one of the widows to whom he has recently brought the bad news.

I can see why Americans have nominated it for awards but the rest of the world will not be so interested, unlike Hurt Locker, which has a more objective message.

Wont stay in the memory bank for long and Ben Foster will act better and get a more challenging role I hope.

Oren Moverman's moving drama is one of the better Hollywood films to deal with the unpopular war in Iraq, and the damage inflicted on soldiers and their grieving families. Like Stop Loss and its ilk, the film depicts how soldiers return home psychologically scarred by their experiences in combat and have trouble adjusting to the normal routine of life back home. In some cases the only outlet they have for their anger and frustration is alcohol or brawling, or else they often withdraw inside themselves.

The Messenger is set against the backdrop of the Casualty Notification Team, the special unit whose soldiers are charged with informing families of the death of their loved ones in combat. They get to see families on the worst day of their life. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) was wounded in Iraq and transferred home and temporarily assigned to the unit. He learns the ropes under veteran Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson). While Stone is able to remain detached from the suffering and grief he witnesses, Montgomery is not so sanguine. He feels for many of the families, and he becomes emotionally involved with a recent widow (Samantha Morton).

Moverman's direction is sympathetic and restrained, but the anti-war message comes across strongly. Moverman draws superb performances from his cast. In his Oscar nominated role Harrelson delivers his best performance, and manages to convey the complexities and depth of his character. Foster is a revelation in the biggest and most emotionally challenging role of his career to date. And Steve Buscemi also registers strongly in a rare serious role as a bereaved father.

An interesting, moving and thought provoking film, well worth checking out.

Don't blame the messenger. But we do. In a key speech, one of the protagonists points out that people don't like being reminded how horrible war is. Or that people die in it. Delivering such news is the job of Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson): informing, in Army jargon, the "N.O.K." (next of kin) that their loved one has just perished in Iraq. The movie's job in turn, I suppose, is to tell us how many lives war, or the latest one, wrecks. But this is, alas, likely to be another Iraq movie nobody will want to watch. 'The Messenger' is so downbeat and its action is stuck in so deep a rut that it never quite sings or emerges from its narrow context. Nonetheless the details are interesting, the feel is authentic, and the acting is excellent.

As 'The Messenger' begins, the captain is joined by Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (played by Ben Foster, who shone in 'Alpha Dog' and '3:10 to Yuma') -- a young man who has just recovered, physically anyway, from an explosive encounter in Baghdad that got a lot of his squad killed and gained him a medal. He's come back to find that his girlfriend (Jena Malone) is marrying somebody else. When he tries to relate to people, he tends to implode. Now he's assigned to spend his last three months of active duty with the captain, a shakily recovering alcoholic, who explains the rules and procedures of the difficult job of being (in the government euphemism) a Casualty Notification Officer, with grim, dictatorial bravado (Harrelson handling his "wild man" role with panache, restraint, and humor). You play it strictly by the book. You don't talk to anybody but the N.O.K. You do not wait around for the N.O.K. You get in, you say your piece, and you get out.

This is about the worst job you could imagine (or the Army could offer you), and, as shown here, downright dangerous. The N.O.K., especially if male, may not kill you, but they could very well physically attack you, and at the very least will launch into hysterics, or verbal abuse, or collapse and need immediate medical attention. Partly this movie is simply the study of a process most people don't know about, though again, they may not really want to know.

The plot has to escape its confining how-to format. It does so -- not altogether successfully -- by having Will, who has not really gotten with the program, decide early on to violate protocol and become involved with the bereaved Olivia (Samantha Morton), who has a young son, who's black, and has a sad sweetness about her. The encounters between Olivia and Will are painful and awkward, but touching and sad. Neither of them is ready for a relationship. Olivia is passive, and kindly. When the captain originally tells her of her husband's death, she shakes both soldiers' hands and says "I know this can't be easy for, you," -- "a first!" the hardened Tony later exclaims. Will desperately needs to be of help or maybe just to rest his head on Olivia's breast.

These people have nowhere to go -- though Olivia decides to head south. Painfully, all three reach out a little. Tony goes off the wagon ("I have to call my sponsor," he says, realistically, after a binge), but in doing so, and then going fishing and getting beaten up together, the two men bond.

The weakness of the thoughtful, well-informed screenplay by Alessandro Camon and Moverman himself (who collaborated with Todd Haynes on the script of 'I'm Not There') is that the romance is a non-starter, too much of a distraction from the bonding between Tony and Will. The men's raucous intrusion on Will's ex's wedding party is a good set piece, but both men could use more of a back story. Moverman is said to have seen action in the Israeli army, and the movie is at its best in capturing the feel of military life -- the edge of craziness after long service, and the desperate refuge in routine, with an equally desperate need to escape from it. For all its weaknesses, this is a reasonably promising directorial debut for Moverman, though, as I am not the first to say, it's not the greatj Iraq war movie Kathryn Bigelow's 'The Hurt Locker' is.

"The Messenger" has some good things going for it, namely some believable and competent performances from the leads, Foster and Harrelson. The first third of the movie has little taking place. It takes the movie almost half it's running time to move a semblance of a story. But before that, one scene singlehandedly pretty much destroys the movie: (spoiler) that being the one involved with the Steve Buschemi character - the father who throws an utterly concocted and contrived tantrum. For a movie that's trying to play itself off as realistic this scene is so contrived and far-fetched thrown in your face that it renders the movie garbage. My wife and I both had the same reaction - "this is ridiculous and stupid", and what was the director thinking. The rest of the movie seems to be about coping, but the stench of that scene overwhelms. After what I had heard as acclaim, the movie sorely disappoints.

I watched this movie because of all the awards buzz it has gained recently. This includes a Best Supporting Actor nod for Woody Harrelson in one of year end critics awards.

The title refers to the thankless duty of notifying next of kin about the death of their loved ones in the War. That is the assignment given to Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) when he had to come from the war due to an eye injury during an explosion. We worked under the "mentor-ship" of seemingly no-nonsense Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson).

Once this premise had been established, you knew that the situations they would face would be richly infused with human drama, and they indeed were. To make things more interesting, Sgt. Will also had to face the problem of his girlfriend getting engaged to someone else, and the dilemma of getting involved with a widow to whom he delivered bad news of her husband's death. We also get to see what actually transpires tragically behind Capt. Stone's cold facade.

The screenplay effectively and interestingly mines all possible areas of personal conflict regarding the war situation at home. I'm going out on a limb to comment that there was a problem in the direction by newcomer Oren Moverman. The treatment was too turgid and slow. The actors, while very good in internalizing their roles, had that creepy vibe that makes empathizing with them difficult for me. While maybe that is what the director aims to achieve, this undignified portrayal of Will and Stone as private individuals detracts from my appreciation of this film as a whole.

"We navigate", Capt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) instructs his new recruit on the Casualty Notification Team, Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster). But how does a shattered man begin to negotiate the grief of strangers, when he can barely fathom his own?

Oren Moverman's penetrating debut employs bare-bones camera-work and a subdued colour palette, putting the focus on the dialogue. Co-written by Moverman, the script is by turns singularly intimate and universal, compounded by stirring lead performances. A decorated soldier returning home from Iraq to convalesce from IED incurred shrapnel wounds, Will realises that the final three months of his tour will be the hardest. With the strategic aim of being the first to deliver the news, the two men come to rely on each other, eventually letting their emotions surface in an intensely moving relationship.

Stone is possessed of a wry, often unsavoury humour which assists in masking his own insecurities and handling the job at hand with the intended clinical etiquette. Will struggles to maintain a similar detachment, seeking comfort in recently widowed Olivia (Samantha Morton), who describes having lost her husband to a war which consumed him with 'rage and fear'. This resonates in Will's search for purpose and connection, and deliverance from the memories that haunt him. At times the articulation of emotion is unbearably raw, yet Moverman leaves us to draw our own conclusions - more is said about the casualties of war in Will's piercing, broken stare than in any regurgitated army spiel. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

Oren Moverman, who makes his directorial debut with 'The Messenger' touches new highs. There are some films, and Then there are some film, and then there is a film called 'The Messenger'! I am a unabashed cinema fan, and I can proudly say that I saw a Masterpiece in 'The Messenger'.

I am super-excited and in awe of 'The Messenger', it's such a powerful film, it's a such an engaging story. A story of two of "Messengers" and a "Widow' unfolds with flourish. Some films defy the word Flaw or Minus, and 'The Messenger' is one of those magical films. I am fan-club of this film, another community of liking.

Oren and Alessandro Camon's Screenplay is powerful and prolific. It's water-tight. Oren's direction deserves distinct marks, his works is amongst the best ever!! Alexander Hall's editing is perfect.

Coming to the acting department, Woody Harrelson stands tall in a role that won him wide acclaim. It's a legendary performance all the way! Ben Foster is magnificent. He's an actor who's sure to be known as a Show-Stopper in the coming time. Jena Malone is effective. Samantha Morton is excellent in a supporting role, she's so natural! Steve Buscemi is terrific in a cameo appearance.

'The Messenger' is a gift, a beautiful one. So, catch this well-decorated gorgeous gift right now! Reccmeneded to all!

'The Messenger' is a story of compassion and courage. It follows to military messengers whose jobs are to inform next-of-kins of the death of their family member in the war. The story goes in depth into their professional and what a challenging and overwhelming task it is for these men to bring the news to families while following protocol. At the same time, we also see how these two soldiers have their own struggles to overcome, have to rebuild their own lives as it's not what it used to be.

Moverman tells a very humane story using subtle layers. the intensity is steadily maintained and the emotions of the characters are subtle too. Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster are terrific as they have delivered one of their finest performances each. Samantha Morton is amazing too as a grieving widow who is strong enough to move on. Jena Malone is quite bad but thankfully her screen time is small enough not to notice. Steve Buscemi is great in his two scenes.

One of the many things I really liked about Moverman's storytelling is how he handled the relationship between the widow, Olivia, and Will. This could have easily been a clichéd romance but what Moverman does is show a friendship and even though Olivia holds off in having a physical relationship with Will, he's still there to help her, willing to take it slow and let her heal through the grief.

The only thing that annoyed me, and this is pretty minor, was the use of the ringtones. They'd just pop up during sequences and distract the viewer. This could have used some toning down.

'The Messenger' is a poignant film about guilt and regret but ultimately it's a story of hope, forgiveness and second chances.

The Messenger is about as funny as a burning orphanage. I mean that as a compliment (not as it was originally used before for a negative comment on Harold and Maude years ago). It's a film that is precisely uncomfortable to listen to, where we see the effects of war on the home-front- of, if not quite post-traumatic stress, then the stress of expectations of fighting or not fighting in combat- and also the task of doing a job that nobody in their right mind ever *wants* to do. In that sense it's akin to Up in the Air, only here there's not a shred of satire to it. It's a hard position to sit in, seeing these two soldiers played by Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, going up to the houses and confront the mothers and fathers and wives of the men and women who've been killed in action in Iraq. Frankly, it's hard for the soldiers themselves. It's untenable, but, as it so happens with the war itself, someone is put out on the front lines.

Oren Moverman's film works best at observing these men in their private moments, in the ones where they have to connect, or show their lack thereof, with other people. Foster's character is a war hero (or so-called, he doesn't think he deserves it) who is assigned this job of informing those of a soldier's death, with only three months left in his tour of duty. He is on edge; he listens to unnecessarily loud rock music, or stares off in his near empty apartment, or, at one point, lets out his boiling-hot rage when he finds that the one girl he might be intimately close to, Kelly (Jena Malone) is marrying another guy. And meanwhile, he finds himself becoming emotionally (though not sexually) involved with one of the women (Samantha Morton) than he informed of her husband's death in Iraq. Anything could happen to him.

He's also under the quasi-tutelage of Woody Harrelson's Officer Stone, a long-timer of this kind of thing, reading from a script-book as to how to talk directly with those who will break down in tears (or perhaps get violent), and sees it as nothing more than a straight-on job without the slightest shed of sentiment or human feeling. That, he says, is for the grieving counselor in a few hours time after they leave to handle. But what's fascinating is seeing these two men together, little by little, as they're layers are peeled away. They get drunk together, very drunk (Stone is supposed to be in recovery), and some secrets are revealed - or what the respective soldier thinks is a secret. And all the while they have to put up their soldier's face, knowing when they tell the news to someone like Steve Buscemi's mortified father of a dead soldier (who, in one of the best scenes of the film, completely flips out on Foster, i.e. "You (bleep) coward!").

While Moverman is a really sensitive director to scenes of powerful emotion - watch as he keeps it all in a one-shot take of the scene between Morton and Foster, as any forced sexual tension is diffused by the shared attention to each of their inner pain and grief - it's an actor's movie through and through. It's very good to see Foster in a role like this, playing something aside from the usual lot of psycho villains he's portrayed (i.e. Hostage, 3:10 to Yuma), and he even brings something of a Marlon Brando quality: quiet, detached, but full of real humanity just burrowed underneath his demeanor. And yet for as good as Foster is, and as amazing Morton and Buscemi have with their small roles, Harrelson really does it for me as one of the best performances of the year. He's strong but wild, amused and detached, wise about the after-effects of war but unknowing really of what it was like 'over-there' (Desert Storm 91, nuff said). It's a fully rounded performance by an actor who has been getting better and better over the years.

He and Foster give the goods on a little movie that is very sad, without a real plot but focused really on the sorrow of real people feeling in real situations. It's not perfect- certainly it doesn't have the cinematic gravitas and force of The Hurt Locker- but it is a very good example of a film that, appropriately, brings what's going on over there right onto the small-town streets and American homes. It's respectful of US soldiers, but questions, with a fine and honestly dramatic hand, what it takes to live with death. 8.5/10