Photos courtesy Oscilloscope Laboratories
Capt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), a Casualty Notification veteran, warns Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) to get ready for an "ocean of grief."
With the arrival today of "The Messenger," we now have an Iraq War home-front drama that's a worthy companion piece to Kathryn Bigelow's superb occupation actioner, "The Hurt Locker," which played in Memphis for two months last year, and arrived on DVD last week.
Both films focus on teams of soldiers in potentially explosive situations. "The Hurt Locker" chronicles the dangerous work of an Army bomb-disposal unit in Iraq. "The Messenger" follows a pair of soldiers in New Jersey on a less lethal but similarly nerve-wracking mission that a superior officer tells them is "not simply important, it is sacred": The soldiers are assigned to the Casualty
Photos courtesy Oscilloscope Laboratories
Capt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), a Casualty Notification veteran, warns Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) to get ready for an "ocean of grief."
Just back from Iraq, ''model soldier'' Sgt. Montgomery doesn't relish the job of notifying parents, spouses and others about the wartime deaths of their loved ones.
U.S. Army Officer Will Montgomery has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service. Partnered with ...
Rating: R for language and some sexual content/nudity
Length: 105 minutes
Released: November 13, 2009 NY/DC
Cast: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Eamonn Walker
Director: Oren Moverman
Writer: Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman
Notification team that informs area "NOKs" — military nomenclature for next of kin — that an Army husband, son, daughter or other loved one has been killed.
As quiet but intense Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery, a "model soldier" and decorated "war hero" newly returned from Iraq, Ben Foster — known for his supporting roles in "3:10 to Yuma" and "30 Days of Night" — is a revelation. Will wants no part of the stone face, dress uniform, by-the-book decorum and emotional pain inherent to his new assignment, especially after his team leader, Capt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), a longtime Casualty Notification veteran, warns him to get ready "to surf a (freaking) ocean of grief."
The first part of the film is as gripping and suspenseful — in its less-violent way — as "The Hurt Locker," as Will and Tony bring their bad news to the homes of unsuspecting family members in a series of devastating vignettes, beautifully wrought by director Oren Moverman, who co-wrote the film with Alessandro Camon. (A veteran of the Israeli Army, Moverman also co-wrote "Married Life," directed by Memphis-born Ira Sachs, and the Bob Dylan biofantasy, "I'm Not There.") "The Messenger" becomes less interesting after the engine of a plot begins chugging away, and Will pursues a questionable interest in a new war widow he met on assignment. The working-class widow is played by a convincing and intentionally unglamorous Samantha Morton.
"The Messenger" works wonderfully as a compelling portrait of two soldiers we wouldn't mind seeing again. The war-on-terror context gives the film a certain topicality, but the subject matter is timeless, making this a great "war movie" for any era. The script is occasionally too writerly (a lengthy monologue about a shirt that smells "of rage" seems better suited for the stage than the screen), but cinematographer Bobby Bukowski ensures that even static scenes are visually interesting; the shaved heads of the soldiers seem to wax and wane in the shadows like restless moons.
"The Messenger" is exclusively at Malco's Studio on the Square.
— John Beifuss, 529-2394
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