You would assume most people would prefer to bring good tidings than bad ones. Not so in the film, The Messenger, directed by Oren Moverman — an Israeli army veteran from the 1980s — about two officers whose job involves informing relatives about the deaths of their loved ones in the Iraq war.
The movie features staff sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), recently arrived from Iraq, and captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), a combatant from the first Gulf War. Their jobs involve going out, clad in medal-studded army suits, to meet and deliver the news to widows and parents of soldiers who have been killed in action. As with most things in the army, there’s a set protocol to be followed, and they are not expected to show too much empathy for the bereaved.
The movie’s plot moves quickly enough as the pair embark on their bereavement travels — the visits, in quick succession, immediately establish the film’s sombre tones and dark textures. Not even the movie’s lighter moments, fuelled by sex and drink, are able to lift its funereal mood. Behind the wisecracks you get a glimpse of devastated lives, reminiscent of une perdue generation, American writer Getrude Stein’s summation of the generation of soldiers returning from World War I.
Their first visit, to a grief-stricken father played by Steve Buscemi, results in an angry outburst of emotion and throaty expectoration. As he shouts and rants, Montgomery stands still and attempts to edge himself away from the “secretary of the army” officialese.
Those few moments are winning ones, for in those circumstances a dose of humanity, perhaps a gesture, is enough to win one a friend and ease some of the pain. One of the subplots is a relationship, albeit relatively platonic, that is developing between Montgomery and Olivia Pitterson (Samantha Morton), a widow whose husband’s death Montgomery had to announce. But Stone, a recovering alcoholic and something of a ladies’ man, insists that Montgomery maintain a military reserve, that he suspend emotion.
Part of the tension and tight drama is driven by the pair’s different personalities, which creates a sparring, theatrical relationship. The difference is dramatised by Montgomery’s boyish good looks and youthful impulse to please, which are a stark contrast to the appropriately named Stone’s hard-boiled, angular features.
It’s a different type of war movie. Indeed, the creators confess they were inspired by the realisation that the kind of war movie they were making — examining the consequences of the decision to go to war — was not a movie that had really been done. We are aware of the gory war going on in the background, a war from which Montgomery emerged with decorations. Even though we never see a limb or corpse, the pair’s routine and snappy dialogue are a constant reminder that lives, thousands of kilometres away, are being lost daily.
With a pair of Oscar nominations — one for Harrelson as best supporting actor and one for co-writers Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon for best original screenplay — The Messenger is a moving film about war and its consequences at a personal level.