Review: The Messenger (Moverman, 2009)
February 5th 2010 02:50
The Messenger (Moverman, 2009)
The Messenger is a quietly powerful film, co-written and directed by Israeli-born first-time director Oren Moverman. The Messenger is the type of film about war that most want to see these days, yet many don’t due to accessibility and limited releases. Like The Hurt Locker, The Messenger does not preach and does not take a stance. The Messenger is about people rather than war. Ben Foster gives the performance of his young career as Will Montgomery, a decorated and wounded soldier almost done with his tour who is given the job no one wants: a causality messenger for the United States Army. Forster is paired with Captain Tony Stone, played by Woody Harrelson. The rest of the film features Montgomery and Stone as they perform their harrowing job whilst dealing with their own psychosis. These men and broken and battered; they each possess a quite desperation and deal with it in their own ways. Montgomery reaches out to the widow of a recently killed soldier played by the always reliable Samantha Morton while Harrelson reaches out to anyone in a skirt for physical comfort and Montgomery himself for camaraderie and friendship.
Moverman films with claustrophobic intent, trapping viewers during the scenes in which Montgomery and Stone break the news to their unsuspecting victims. Moverman frames Foster’s face in tight close-ups as he flinches and holds back tears while someone is breaking down in anguish mere feet in front of him. His camera stalks the space in which angry parents yell and scream and spit upon receiving the news that their children are gone. Moverman is unflinching in his handling of these intense circumstances and the emotional impact is palpable. Moverman’s script is always authentic and does not feel manipulative. Foster is reminiscent of a young Sean Penn, straight out of Close at Range Colors, or Causalities of War; he even sounds like him. Harrelson turns in an excellent performance and once again reveals he is one of Hollywood’s most reliable (and surprising) character actors.
The Messenger is a haunting character study that will grip you and then shatter you apart. One of the best films of 2009, it, along with The Hurt Locker, will eventually become classics in this new genre of post-modern war films.
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