Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will's emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.This is another one of those powerful but dark character dramas that flood the zone this time of year. Bottom line with this one is that its a great movie with amazing performances that I could see getting nominated for numerous awards. However, it is a dreary watch. Just like Brothers a couple of weeks ago, I watched this knowing that it was a great, well done and well acted movie but you really feel down and drained after watching it.
I would definitely recommend anyone who is in to award nominated movies check this one out. Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster put forth two of the better performances of the year in this one.
