The Messenger delivers what it has to say without sensationalism or political posturing. That restraint, along with the quality of the performances, makes it all the more powerful.

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The Messenger (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:58
Fresh:52
Rotten:6
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: A dark but timely subject is handled deftly by writer/directer Owen Moverman and superbly acted by Woody Harrleson and Ben Foster.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language and some sexual content/nudity
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Nov 13, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $167,346
Synopsis:
Co-written by Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon, THE MESSENGER is a powerful and tender story about a returned war hero making his first steps toward a normal life.
In his first leading role,...
Co-written by Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon, THE MESSENGER is a powerful and tender story about a returned war hero making his first steps toward a normal life.
In his first leading role, Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.
Featuring tour-de-force performances from Foster, Harrelson and Morton, and a brilliant directorial debut by Moverman, THE MESSENGER brings us into the inner lives of these outwardly steely heroes to reveal their fragility with compassion and dignity. --© Oscilloscope
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Starring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone
Starring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Eamonn Walker, Steve Buscemi
Director: Oren Moverman
Director: Oren Moverman
Screenwriter: Oren Moverman, Alessandro Camon
Producer: Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Zach Miller
Composer: Nathan Larson
Studio: Oscilloscope Pictures
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Reviews for The Messenger
One of the rare movies that communicates honestly and artfully about the real casualties of war: the surviving combatants.
Many scenes in The Messenger feel merely illustrative, not designed to develop characters and story so much as to make the point, over and over, that the home front can be as harrowing as the front lines.
Director Oren Moverman’s feature-length debut is a little like The Hurt Locker in the way it uncomfortably probes a little-known military organelle.
Although Hollywood has dealt with the war from various perspectives, Moverman’s film offers a new angle that brings the horrors home about the decision to go to war.
Whenever writer-director Oren Moverman moves past these scattered and admittedly voyeuristic moments into the lives of the two soldiers, the movie drifts into received wisdom and unconvincing romance.
The Messenger knows that even if it tells a tearjerking story, it doesn't have to be a tearjerker. In fact, when a sad story tries too hard, it can be fatal.
Some jobs are dirtier than others, and after seeing director and co-writer Oren Moverman’s beautifully acted new film The Messenger, you’ll be better acquainted with some of the most grueling work a human being can be called upon to perform.
It brings home the horror of the Iraq war in a way that much of our TV news media have failed to do.
This character piece may be for the arthouse, but the artistry has a gaping wound, large enough to allow credulity to seep out.
...a poignant tale of redemption that counts as one of the very best films of the year.
A fine bookend to Katheryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, showing another side of how the war at home can be just as rigorous as the one abroad.
The beauty in Foster's portrayal is that it never completely explodes, but anger and aching seethe behind his eyes. Harrelson, meanwhile, is a good old boy with a bad old job.
What could have been a grim, depressing Iraq war drama of two men who deliver dreaded news becomes in Moverman's promising debut a human tale of grief and survival, balancing grave issues with humor, underlined by strong acting from Foster and Harrelson
The Messenger honors those who fought and died in Iraq by acting out, with an anguished handheld immediacy, how large each of those sacrifices really is.
Latest News for The Messenger
November 12, 2009:
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October 25, 2009:
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