The Messenger: A Movie Review...

Saw this film last night and was pleasantly surprised by its lack of political stance and just straightforward storytelling along with the expected solid performances of Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson.

Ben Foster is one of my current favorite actors who seems to imbue more emotion into the characters he plays (Alpha Dog, 3:10 to Yuma) than almost any modern, young actor I can think of. Here is in the role of an Army Sergeant assigned to notify the deceased's next of kin upon their death in Iraq or Afghanistan. Teaching him the ropes of said role is a Captain played by Woody Harrelson.

There is no discussion here as to the righteousness or lack thereof surrounding the two wars, nor is there any political B.S., instead it focuses on the strength it takes to perform such a job which is frequently overlooked by our society and the collateral damage caused by the satisfactory completion of this near thankless task.

There is no over dramatizing here, no long speeches, no proselytizing. Just good performances and a well written and satisfying story.

I have read in some opinions of the film that unless you are a parent or sufficiently aged enough to have already truly loved and lost (in all its forms) that it comes across flat as those without such experience cannot imagine the depths of despair, rage, fear, sadness, etc. that such events can lead to. I'm not sure if that's correct or not as I'm not young enough to be without those experiences but unless you are one of the lucky (?) few who has missed out on such things I would definitely put this film on your list of ones to see.