“An excellent, excellent, excellent film with tremendous acting by Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson.  Excellent story and writing that avoided all the sentimental pitfalls.”

“A grim perspective of war and its survivors and those who died.”

“Those who should see it (Cheney, etc) will never get the message.  Excellent film.  Thought I wouldn’t like it because of the subject, what a surprise.  Scene in kitchen tells it all beautifully!”

“Fits into one of the newer generations of filmmaking genres.  105 minutes felt like 3hrs!  Thank God for the acting performances of Ben Foster and Samantha Morton.  What a shameless, stereotypical, dishonest, hypocritical, unrealistic piece of screenwriting.”

“I only hope that many many people see this beautiful and important film.  Bravo to all involved.”

“Samantha Morton was especially outstanding.”

“Excellent, but hard to take.”

“Loved the performances.  Could watch another film with Foster’s and Harrelson’s characters.  Harrelson gives likely his best performance.  Great subject matter.  A very good film.”

“The dialogue was sometimes hard to understand because of mumbling.  Confusing: An antiwar movie anti-this war?  I believe the later.  Too bad this film wasn’t made 7 years ago.”

“An extraordinary film in every way.”

“Excellent acting and an incredible story.  The camaraderie between Ben and Woody will go down in screen history.”

“A stunning political antiwar film that was so important it made me weep.”

“The painful job of notifying ‘NOK’ is one we rarely think of…and one of the most important. The ‘rules’ are almost as cold and cruel as the task itself, but the character of Will breaks the rules beautifully.  This is a tender, gently paced film and one everyone should see.  At first I thought, ‘oh no, another war movie’ but ultimately glad it wasn’t.”

“Powerful and effective.”

“ ‘THE MESSENGER’ delivered a powerful message in a most profound way in every aspect, beautifully done!”

“Powerful and moving!”

“Excellent film and story was well performed.  Difficult drama, well told.  Woody Harrelson was superb.”

“War is hell, but maybe life is hell as well.”

“Woody Harrelson was absolutely amazing!  The film is certainly a message.”

“Should be mandatory viewing by our US Congress and President.  Powerful film.  A good companion piece for HURT LOCKER.”

“A simple, enormously compelling story that’s also the perfect metaphor for dealing with death. Unless America, like these two young men, understands the cost of war soldier by soldier, family by family, politicians and arms dealers and will exploit youth for money, patriotism for profit.”

“Should be required viewing for any citizen of our country who votes, pays taxes and get to have an opinion.  Especially those who decide when and why we should go to war.”

“Too bad this couldn’t have been made years ago.  Powerful and sensitively handled.  A deeply moving story handled with sensitivity and grace.”

“An honest depiction of a side of war we don’t see or read about.  As I said last week when will we ever learn?  The message: say what you need to every day because tomorrow is not guaranteed.”

“An honest, emotionally wrenching story supported by excellent performances and production values.”

“Wonderfully real.  Ben Foster and Samantha Morton couldn’t be better.  Very intense.”

“A grim perspective of war!  And its casualties and survivors.”

“Ben Foster is riveting.  All the actors are so intense and amazing.  The idea of taking a tiny moment which is pivotal in these people’s lives, learning about the death of a child, a husband, a daughter or son.  Quite exceptional.  The ambient sound and intimacy of close-ups puts us into each moment of the film.  A job we never even consider.  A real anti war statement!  So many exquisite small moments; the scene when they straighten their hats in the reflection of the car windows.  The opening scene with Jena Malone.  Woody Harrelson looks like Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando.  He is always amazing.”

“Superb acting, Harrelson has never been better.  It’s a part of war seldom depicted, but it needed to be.  Great screenplay and great execution.”

“My son did two tours in Iraq and that visit by the army was my biggest fear.  Fortunately I didn’t get that visit.  However every time I heard the news that a soldier was killed, I felt guilty that I felt relief that it wasn’t my son.  I was very pleased to see the soldier wanted to display his humanity and feel sympathy for the grieving.  I felt he was grieving along with them as I often felt I was grieving from a distance for other families.”