Secondhand Reviews: "The Messenger"

Often, even the movies that "nobody" went to see are still widely KNOWN to the general moviegoing public. For instance, in spite of it being the lowest-grossing "Best Picture" winner of all time, everyone knows about "The Hurt Locker". But then there are movies like "The Messenger", which earned Woody Harrelson a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. This is exactly the kind of movie that people who complain about not enough of the Oscar nominees being films people actually know are talking about, and at the same time the kind of movie that the general public should be seeing more of. I mean, all due respect to "Avatar", which I enjoyed, but that kind of movie doesn't need more publicity. Films like "The Messenger" do.

This is the story of a young soldier with only three months left on his tour of duty, who is assigned for those final months the job of working on a "casualty notification team" with veteran Woody Harrelson. The two of them spend their days notifying the families of soldiers who've been killed in action that their loved ones won't be coming  back. Harrelson has hardened himself to the job and carries it out with precision, Foster can't seem to adjust his emotions to be "distant" enough. Then one day he becomes fascinated with one particular widow (Samantha Morton) to whom he delivers the bad news, and begins to suspect he may be developing romantic feelings for her.

First off, Harrelson absolutely does deliver an award-worthy performance here (it's too bad he had to do so in the same year and category as Christoph Waltz). I hope he doesn't ever stop doing "crazy" characters, because he is so brilliant at it, but it is refreshing (and surprising) to see him be so powerfully effective at a more serious, somber character here, someone who seems to have bleached all the softer emotions out of his life but as time goes on and we get to know him reveals his hidden depths. And I suppose, when you get down to it, the anger and frustration that eventually surface do bear a certain resemblance to madness. But this really is a character of real depth, and Harrelson is up to the challenge. Next time anybody tries to tell you he can only play lunatics, direct them towards "The Messenger".

By and large, the rest of the cast is at the same level or at least close. Ben Foster as Harrelson's young partner is so sympathetic that he actually manages to hold your sympathy when he first begins developing those feelings for Morton and in the initial stages almost seems like a bit of a stalker. (And let's not ignore the fact that he's guilty of some major violations of military policy here.) Samantha Morton is really touching as a young woman who appears on the surface to be dealing well with her grief but clearly has some serious issues under the surface (come to think of it, there are a number of performances in this movie of characters who are something under the surface other than what they appear). And a surprise cameo of a couple of scenes from Steve Buscemi gives us a side of the actor that we've never seen before. However, fans of the fine young actress Jena Malone ("Stepmom", "Life As A House") will probably be disappointed by her insignificant role as Foster's girlfriend who breaks up with him in the first five minutes and is only heard from after that as a voice on the phone in one scene, and one other on-screen appearance.

The film's most impressive accomplishment is how it puts you inside the lives and minds of the families on the home front (and the soldiers working there) in much the same realistically intense way that "The Hurt Locker" takes you through the combat experience. It's devastating to see family member after family member crumble emotionally as they get the news, and watch Foster slowly begin his  downslide as well... but that makes the moments of hope as they come all the more effective, as we learn that however deep the emotional injury, it's always possible to recover.

On the other hand, probably its most problematic element is the gradually growing feelings between Foster and Morton. It's not just the questionable morality of the thing, it's also the predictability... it's the sort of thing you'd expect to see in a much more unrealistic and formula-bound film that this. However, just as you start to get concerned that the movie might be going off the rails because of this, it surprises you by throwing in some twists that those sorts of movies would never have taken. Even the story's most questionable plotline manages to redeem itself.

Practically nobody saw "The Messenger" in theaters (it's already on DVD and is playing theatrically in the Twin Cities area only for one show daily at a single second-run house, the Riverview). But it's the kind of movie that needs to be encouraged. I really don't have anything at all against blockbusters in principal and have thoroughly liked a good many of them, but only rarely do I find the feelings they brought to me during the screening hanging around long afterward. "The Messenger" is the sort of film that you will be thinking about long after you see it. There ought to be more movies like that, but until there is, let's pay more attention to this one.