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No Whining Wednedsay? But How About a Little Soul-Scraping Agony?

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (21)

the-messenger-woody-harrelson.jpg

When I was 16, I had a friend who died after a sudden emergency heart transplant, when her body rejected the organ. I was put in the horrendous position of having to tell her boyfriend the bad news. I guess you never know how someone is going to react to that kind of news — he was angry. Damn near killed me.

But can you imagine having to do that as your job? The Messenger follows two army men — Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster — tasked with notifying the next of kin after service men die. The trailer (below) looks uncomfortably powerful. It comes from debut director Oren Moverman, and though the trailer hints at the entire narrative trajectory of the film, I get the feeling that this movie is less about plot, and more about performances. You could hardly find a better guy to center your movie on than Ben Foster, and the addition of Samantha Morton — as the widow of a fallen officer — certainly doesn’t hurt (nor does the Willie Nelson rendition of “Amazing Grace”).

I expect great things from The Messenger, although I doubt it’s going to be a movie I’ll much look forward to seeing.









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Comments

I had to tell my mum one of her best friends had died. I wouldn't want to be in that position again.

This is going to be a cheery thread, isn't it?

Posted by: Carrie at October 7, 2009 10:27 AM

Woody gets serious? This I need to see.

BTW, Esquire carried a piece that detailed the step-by-step process the military takes to bring a fallen soldier home, told in reverse, from his burial to his death. It was really about the people who do the jobs like this along the way, and the enormous responsibility they feel and the enormous care they take to do this enormously difficult job right. It was exceptionally moving ... here, I'll just see if I can find a link to it ... Yep, here it is:

www.esquire.com/features/things-that-carried-him

Read it and weep.

Posted by: , (TCFKAB) at October 7, 2009 10:30 AM

Reminiscent of HBO's Taking Chance, which was pretty good. Ben Foster - nice to see you not playing the freak for once.

And yeah, delivering news like this is horrible. I had to call my mom to tell her when her sister died, and I'll always remember the guilt I felt for thinking "please let dad answer, please let dad answer" as the phone was ringing.

Posted by: TK at October 7, 2009 10:44 AM

I can't even be watchin' this trailer, because I can't hear Amazing Grace without crying. (I am not religious - it's just a f#*!king sad song.)

But I love Ben Foster.

I'm conflicted.

Posted by: MM at October 7, 2009 10:46 AM

My granddad was an Army chaplain during Vietnam, and dad tells me he spent the war driving around Oklahoma with an Army lawyer delivering the bad news to mothers and wives. He never talked about it to me, and only told my dad in the last years of his life.

Posted by: Cat at October 7, 2009 10:53 AM

Man, that would be a terrible job. Somebody's gotta do it, I'm glad that someone isn't me.

Posted by: Slash at October 7, 2009 11:00 AM

I couldn't even imagine the responsibility of having that particular job. I know I couldn't do it.

Posted by: admin at October 7, 2009 11:02 AM

I am an Air Transporter for the United States Air Force. My job on occasion is to transport the remains of Fallen Soldiers. I also on occasion find myself at the door of their loved one to break the news or have to attend the funeral since I am also in the Honor Guard. The job is the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life and it has taken years from me, but it is necessary.

I love movies more than anyone I know, but I think I'll have to skip this one.

Posted by: Pastor of Muppets at October 7, 2009 11:12 AM

TCFKAB,
I read that article in Esquire and loved it immediately. I sent the link to all my friends and made copies to give to the computer-phobic of my family. It's one of those articles that I'm sure I will never forget. I run into a lot of those in Esquire, which is probably why it's the only magazine I subscribe to anymore.

Posted by: abijah at October 7, 2009 11:43 AM

TCFKAB

Sitting at my desk, trying to wipe my eyes discreetly.

Posted by: strtwise at October 7, 2009 11:50 AM

Woah this looks really powerful. Trailer reminds me of the one for Brothers.

Posted by: grace b at October 7, 2009 11:58 AM

Not on your life. That's just...jesus, no. I'm going to have to erase that from my memory so I may continue to observe NWW.

Posted by: Eyvi at October 7, 2009 12:16 PM

Yeah.... I think I'll be watching the trailer - and reading that article - at home, where it's safe to weep. Because that part's gonna happen pretty definitely.

Posted by: Tarn at October 7, 2009 1:12 PM

I have a feeling that before too much longer you will be seeing "Academy Award Nominee" before the name of Ben Foster. He's a very good actor, and I've loved that guy since his turn as Russell in Six Feet Under. This looks good. And powerful. And Samantha Morton is super solid as well.

Posted by: John Denver's Wingman at October 7, 2009 1:24 PM

This looks as though it's going to live up to the "Riveting". "Powerful" and "Heartwrenching" words that mainstream critics much too easily hand out to lesser films.
It won't be easy to watch but it will be worthwhile.

Posted by: Spender at October 7, 2009 1:26 PM

I fucking love Ben Foster. He is such an underrated actor, and he needs to be exposed as one of young Hollywood's new leading men. He has talent falling out of his dick and no one in Hollywood seems to want to catch it.

Posted by: Brittany at October 7, 2009 4:05 PM

Ben Foster is brilliant. How he hasn't gotten more roles, I don't understand.

I was deployed on a carrier during Hurricane Katrina. There were a lot of guys working for me from Mississippi, Louisiana, etc. I got the wonderful job of telling people when they got red cross messages informing how many loved ones they had lost. The worst part was the waiting. Some cats didn't hear anything till we got back about 4 months later. I had one kid get a red cross message from his dad saying his sister and him made it but everyone else was lost. Two weeks later, he gets one from his mom saying she and his two brothers are alright but everyone else must be dead. The whole clusterfuck was such a mess that their family ended up spread across three separate states and they didn't have the means to contact each other. That was probably the worst 4 or 5 months I ever spent in the military. For months I was calling people into the office to basically tell them one on one... "No word yet" or "Do you have dental records on so and so". To this day, I want to bury a golf club into the head of fucker that was the director of FEMA.

Posted by: Diablo at October 7, 2009 5:47 PM

I have been waiting to see Ben Foster in a role worthy of him since 3:10 to Yuma. This looks like it might be the one.

Posted by: Jerce at October 7, 2009 8:55 PM

I think this movie makes me want to sit down, be quiet and think about things for a while.

Posted by: Odnon at October 8, 2009 4:28 AM

This is one of those movies that I will have to watch at home, because it will make me cry copiously.

Posted by: androstarr at October 8, 2009 11:22 AM

"He has talent falling out of his dick and no one in Hollywood seems to want to catch it."

Are you saying he pisses excellence? I concur.

This reminds me of a circa 2002 ABCNews story about a town that had a wall of baseballs for each fallen soldier and it had reached almost 1,000 balls. The clip that got me was a young boy's dawning wide-eyed horror that each ball was someone's dad or mom. *blinking furiously*

Posted by: amanda47 at October 8, 2009 4:21 PM