Director/co-writer Oren Moverman's erratic discussion of the emotional fallout from American soldiers dying in the Iraq war depends on the estimable talents of Ben Foster as wounded war hero Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery, whose final three months of duty involves notifying family members of a soldier's death.
Sgt Montgomery lives an impoverished solitary life, working on-call under Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), whose own war experiences have left deep psychological scars.
The story takes on a soul-crushing repetitive reality as the uniformed soldiers of the Casualty Notification Office carry out their duties with by-the-book instructions that don't always allow for the unpredictable reaction of the strangers they meet under emotionally unstable conditions.
The film affords Woody Harrelson an opportunity to turn in some of his best career work with a complex character that is empathetic as he is pathetic. Moveman struggles with tempo and structure, leading up to an unsatisfying ending that fails to pin down the film's limited thematic arc.
Nonetheless, "The Messenger" is worth the price of admission if only to see Ben Foster's gut-wrenching monologue about the violent battle that branded Will Montgomery a "war hero."
Symptomatically, the film touches on the shell-shocked mood of a country locked in a pretentious war where lives, lost and ruined, are swept under the carpet like so much sawdust by a corporate-controlled government and media.
Rated R. 107 mins.
