DVD Reviews
By Rama Gaind
The Messenger (Madman Entertainment)
Stars: Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers), Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma),
Samantha Morton (Control) and Jena Malone (Into the Wild)
Director: Oren Moverman
A poignant film about the lives of those on the frontline, and how their death affects those who are left behind.
The Messenger is the story of decorated combat soldier Will Montgomery (Foster), who has recently returned from Iraq. He has been assigned to the Army Casualty Notification service, a unit that’s tasked with informing families of the death of their loved ones in the line of duty.
He is mentored by Captain Tony Stone (Harrelson), but Montgomery has to learn to detach himself from the emotional challenges that the job brings. However, the walls come crumbling down when Olivia (Morton) comes into the picture.
A disturbingly close look at the various ways in which people handle news about loved ones who die in a war. Grief, pain, anger and subdued sentiments – everyone deals with it differently – and our messengers are no exception.
It would not be wrong to say that the true scars of war are often shaped at home, not on the battlefield.
Nominated for two 2009 Academy Awards, The Messenger brings forth some fine acting from Harrelson and Foster, together with the support cast.
Restrepo (Madman Entertainment)
Director: Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Restrepo is a 2010 National Geographic documentary that deals with modern warfare and its casualties.
It is set in what is considered to be one of the most dangerous postings of the war – the remote Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. This is where the American soldiers of Second Platoon have secured a strategic outpost and named it in honour of PFC Juan Sebastián Restrepo, a Colombian-born naturalised U.S. citizen platoon medic who was killed earlier in the campaign.
Directed by American journalist Sebastian Junger and British photojournalist Tim Hetherington, the film explores the year they spent in Afghanistan on assignment for Vanity Fair.
Told in their own words, Restrepo is the unwavering, on-the-ground story of the day-to-day lives of a group of men who came to rely on each other under constant danger and emotional hardship. They became renowned as the ‘tip of the spear’ for the American war effort in Afghanistan.
The fearless patriotism of the soldiers of the Second Platoon must be admired.
