The Messenger is a 2009 war drama film starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Steve Buscemi, and Jena Malone.

The film follows a pair of United States Army casualty notification officers and the effects of their difficult work on their personal lives and each other.

He has received commendation for his heroic actions during the war, but is dealing with PTSD and as a result of being wounded in combat, has a chronic condition in his left eye.

His only emotional connection is his childhood sweetheart Kelly, whom he was originally intent on marrying before he left for Iraq, but she could not wait for him and has since become engaged to another man.

Stone, a Gulf War veteran who saw no combat, is the more soldierly of the two and relays to Will the protocol for notifying next of kin of a tragedy, which includes no hugging or physical contact and no fraternizing with the grief-stricken.

One woman named Olivia is in considerably less visible pain after learning of her husband's death, which Stone suspects is due to her having an affair.

Will talks about Kelly rejecting him and tells Stone about his father's death due to drunk driving, along with tales of his estranged mother.

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.

In his apartment, Will tells Tony about his experience with a friend who died while fighting in Iraq—an event that resulted in his injury to his left eye—and how he feels his bravery was meaningless as he could not do anything for him; he contemplated suicide soon after, but stopped himself when he saw the sunrise.

[2] Moverman said he wanted to write a film about the "unseen aspects of war", especially as President George W. Bush had upheld a ban on photos of soldiers' coffins in the media during his administration.

The site's critical consensus states, "A dark but timely subject is handled deftly by writer/director Oren Moverman and superbly acted by Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster.

Moverman and his screenwriter, Alessandro Camon, born in Italy, have made a very particularly American story, alert to nuances of speech and behavior.

"[11] The Los Angeles Times' Betsy Sharkey wrote: "At his most fundamental, Will is a soldier in search of normalcy, for a way to move beyond the horrors of Iraq, to fit in again.