The Messenger 2009

On leave from the Iraq War, Will Montgomery is a U.S. Army staff sergeant who has earned commendations for his bravery but struggles with PTSD and a combat-caused injury to his left eye. His only emotional anchor is his childhood sweetheart, Kelly, who couldn’t wait for him and is now engaged to someone else.

Before his discharge, he is dispatched as a casualty notification officer alongside Captain Tony Stone, a Gulf War veteran who has not seen combat and acts as the more procedural mentor. Stone lays out the grim protocol—the need to offer no hugs or premature comfort and to keep distance from grieving families—before their first assignments begin.

Their first reports touch a spectrum of reactions: a mother and her pregnant fiancé break down, with the mother slapping Stone in shock and anger. Other families endure their own storms—a man named Dale Martin who lashes out, a woman who quietly married an enlisted man, and a Mexican man who is told through a translator about his daughter’s death. Among these encounters, one Olivia stands out, a woman who appears to mask deeper pain after learning of her husband’s death, which Stone suspects is connected to an affair.

In a bar, the two men open up about their lives. Will Montgomery confesses the heartbreak of Kelly’s rejection and shares painful memories about his father’s death from drunk driving, along with nights spent with his estranged mother. At the mall, he notices Olivia with her young son Matt, buying clothes for her husband’s funeral, and he intervenes to break up a scuffle between him and two Army recruiters who are pressuring teenagers. He repairs Olivia’s car and grows friendly with her and Matt. After a voicemail from Kelly about her upcoming wedding, Will pummels a wall in a surge of frustration. He later goes to Olivia’s house; the two grow closer, but her candor about her husband’s mistreatment makes any romantic steps tentative.

When Will comforts a family in a grocery story after conveying their son’s fate, Stone harshly berates him for showing emotion. Will asserts his own identity by using his first name, “Tony,” challenging his rank, and then walks home alone. The two officers reconcile and spend several days at a lakeside cabin, where Stone brings along two women; Stone beds one of them and pressures Will to join, though Will hesitates.

The pair later crash Kelly’s wedding reception, intoxicated, and create a scene during the toasts. They share a loud, boisterous moment in a parking lot and awaken to find Dale standing outside. Dale apologizes to Will and Tony for his earlier anger. Back in Will’s apartment, he opens up about a friend who died fighting in Iraq, the eye injury that followed, and how he once contemplated suicide but was saved by the sunrise. Hearing this, Tony breaks down in tears.

The following day, Olivia is packing to move with Matt to Louisiana. Will reveals he is weighing whether to stay in the U.S. Army, and he asks Olivia to let him know their new address. She agrees and invites him to come inside so he can write down the details, leaving him with a sense of possibilities for the future.