The Messenger (2009)
On leave from the Iraq War, Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army staff sergeant, finds that his girlfriend Kelly is engaged to another man. Before he is to be discharged, he is dispatched as a casualty notification officer along with Gulf War veteran Captain Tony Stone as his mentor. He is told of the importance of his task by Lieutenant Colonel Dorsett as many have failed. Stone then relays the rules of telling next of kin of a tragedy. On the job, their first report to the family prompts the mother to slap Stone, as she and his pregnant fiancé weep over the deceased; a man named Dale Martin angrily throws things at Will; a woman who secretly married an enlisted man cries in his arms after learning of the man’s death; a Mexican man who is told through a translator about the death of his daughter cries in front of his other child; and a woman named Olivia is in considerably less visible pain after learning of her husband’s death. Stone suspects it is due to her having an affair.
In a bar, Will and Stone discuss their lives to each other. Will talks about his girlfriend rejecting him and tells Stone about his father’s death due to drunk driving, along with tales of his estranged mother. Will sees Olivia with her son at a mall buying clothes for her husband’s funeral, breaking up a fight between her and two Army recruiters attempting to enlist teenagers, before offering her a ride. He fixes her car and becomes friends with both her and her young son Matt. After hearing a voicemail from Kelly talking about her upcoming wedding, he punches a hole through his wall in a fit of rage. He arrives at Olivia’s house and the two express affection for each other, but his attempts at physical intimacy are met with hesitancy as she tells him about how her husband mistreated her and her son.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast:  Ben FosterStaff Sergeant Will Montgomery  Woody HarrelsonCaptain Tony Stone  Samantha MortonOlivia Pitterson  Jena MaloneKelly  Steve BuscemiDale Martin  Yaya DaCostaMonica Washington  Eamonn WalkerColonel Stuart Dorsett |
On leave from the Iraq War, Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army staff sergeant, finds that his girlfriend Kelly is engaged to another man. Before he is to be discharged, he is dispatched as a casualty notification officer along with Gulf War veteran Captain Tony Stone as his mentor. He is told of the importance of his task by Lieutenant Colonel Dorsett as many have failed. Stone then relays the rules of telling next of kin of a tragedy. On the job, their first report to the family prompts the mother to slap Stone, as she and his pregnant fiancé weep over the deceased; a man named Dale Martin angrily throws things at Will; a woman who secretly married an enlisted man cries in his arms after learning of the man’s death; a Mexican man who is told through a translator about the death of his daughter cries in front of his other child; and a woman named Olivia is in considerably less visible pain after learning of her husband’s death. Stone suspects it is due to her having an affair.
In a bar, Will and Stone discuss their lives to each other. Will talks about his girlfriend rejecting him and tells Stone about his father’s death due to drunk driving, along with tales of his estranged mother. Will sees Olivia with her son at a mall buying clothes for her husband’s funeral, breaking up a fight between her and two Army recruiters attempting to enlist teenagers, before offering her a ride. He fixes her car and becomes friends with both her and her young son Matt. After hearing a voicemail from Kelly talking about her upcoming wedding, he punches a hole through his wall in a fit of rage. He arrives at Olivia’s house and the two express affection for each other, but his attempts at physical intimacy are met with hesitancy as she tells him about how her husband mistreated her and her son.
