"The Messenger," directed by Oren Moverman, is a powerful look at a rarely seen side of war, focusing on two casualty notification officers: Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) and Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson). Rather than dealing with the nitty gritty aspects of warfare, "The Messenger" brings a nitty gritty peek at the consequences of war, packing a powerful emotional punch that may give a new perspective on war in general.
 
When reading through descriptions of this movie, I thought that the movie would focus more on the potentially immoral growing relationship between Montgomery and Olivia Pitterson (played by Samantha Morton). The movie was more about the casualty notification duty in general, I felt, and less about the widow and her son, though they certainly played a part. I was somewhat surprised to see Steve Buscemi in this movie, who played grieving father Dale Martin. He did an admirable job in playing the part, as did all of the grieving family members, who really helped bring the realism of the subject matter out.
 
The movie itself had a lot of emotional moments, but I felt some moments were also a little slow. Part of the style of the movie includes having very little music to distract the viewer from the scene. I noticed that the characters are often eating (something not often seen in typical Hollywood movies), which I thought kind of accentuate the fact that the movie is true-to-life. It's a little hard to explain. The style may be a little tough to digest though, as you're confronted with real situations and consequences, which not everyone goes to the movies to see.
 
As for the slow-developing romance in the movie, I thought it brought interesting moral implications, but as a whole, felt more like showcasing yet another side of the duty that was thrust upon Staff Sergeant Montgomery. I thought that Ben Foster did a fantastic job with what had to be a pretty difficult role. Woody Harrelson does a good job portraying the senior officer who has been doing this duty for a while now, but I think it would've been nice to get a little more background into his character. Overall, I did find the movie somewhat hard to watch, if not simply for the amount of emotions it evokes, but I'd say that the movie is well done and worth a watch if you go in knowing what to expect.