Editorial
Front Page - Friday, January 22, 2010
Are We There Yet?
“The Messenger”Try and imagine the worst job you can then multiply it by fifty. If you can’t then be sure and see “The Messenger” when it opens today.
Jay Edwards
Try and imagine the worst job you can then multiply it by fifty. If you can’t then be sure and see “The Messenger” when it opens today.
It’s a story about Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, a 21st century American soldier and hero who is winding down his service to his country.
The movie begins with Will and former high school sweetheart Kelly (Jena Malone) having one last torrid tumble before Kelly gets married to another of their old school chums.
After saying goodbye and putting the fair Kelly into a cab Will is summoned to Colonel Stuart Dorsett’s (Eamonn Walker) office, the company’s CO. That’s where we also meet Captain Tony Stone, played by Woody Harrelson.
Dorsett and Stone tell Montgomery that he’s been chosen for the Army’s Casualty Notification Unit. The look on Montgomery’s face of anger and revulsion says it all.
But he’s a good soldier, meaning he follows orders, and he and Stone sit down for coffee and debriefing.
“We have to get their first, it’s a race against Fox and CNN,” Stone tells him. “You aren’t to tell anyone but the next of kin. And no physical contact, don’t be offering any hugs.”
“I won’t be offering any hugs………..Sir,” Will coolly tells his superior officer.
Harrelson’s Stone is pushy, crude and all military. He knows the importance of his job, seeing it almost as sacred; but you get the feeling that at some level he enjoys bringing these people the worst news they’ll ever get. His is really a defiance or rebellion against the naivety of the American people. He says, “people send their young to war as if they’re going off to college or hiking in Europe, and then when they get killed everyone seems so shocked.”
On his first assignment Will is told by Stone not to say anything, to only observe. They arrive at the front door of a small house and knock on the door. As I watched the scene my stomach filled with butterflies and I wished for the front door not to open.
They knocked again and at last someone did answer. She was a young pregnant black woman. Stone said they needed to speak to the soldier’s mother. When they asked if she was home the young woman said she was the man’s fiancé, asking, “What’s he gone and done now?”
Stone again uncomfortably tells her they need to speak to his mother. She says she should be right back and they decide to wait. They sit on the couch, and the fiancé presses them to tell her their news. They are silent and she, with the horrible reality sinking in, becomes more agitated, until at last she’s screaming at them to answer her. That’s when the mama walks in the front door.
The messengers stand and Stone starts his speech.
“The Secretary of the Army has asked me to express his deep regret that your son was killed while….(screaming). The Secretary extends (screaming) his deepest sympathy (screaming) to you and your family (“You stop saying that!”) in your tragic loss.” After mama slaps Stone in the face, Will and he get out the door.
These scenes where the soldiers perform their unpleasant tasks are intense, scary and heart breaking; and the actors bring home their tragic emotions full force.
On another “mission,” Will tells Stone he wants to give the news as they drive to the deceased’s house. Stone doesn’t feel he’s ready but finally relents. He reminds Will to stick to the script.
Again the tension builds as they stand at the door. No one answers. Finally they step off the front porch and turn toward the car, and you feel relief, like when something you’ve dreaded for days gets delayed a bit longer.
But it doesn’t last as you hear a call from the side of the house, and the dead soldier’s father (Steve Buscemi) walks over to them. Will, stiff and nervous walks to meet him and immediately and nervously goes into the canned spiel.
I won’t spoil it for you. It doesn’t go well, which of course none of them do, but they get through it.
Like many soldiers, many men, they perform their unpleasant tasks while on duty and drink away the memories of them while off.
The two are very different, but eventually bond through the experiences of their duty, and their eventual confessions to one another of past sins.
The story develops when Will finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband’s death.
While their cautious and guilty romance definitely adds to the film, it is the scenes with Foster and Harrelson, delivering their news and getting to know one another that make The Messenger great.
It should not be missed.
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