Review - The Messenger

Not a masterwork but pretty good, The Messenger tells the story of two messengers of the Army's Casualty Notification Service (CNS) – Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) and Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson). CNS officers (acronyms are a shorthand for military perspective in The Messenger) are assigned to tell the news of a soldier's death to the soldier's next of kin (NOK). Montgomery has just returned from a combat tour and was wounded in battle. He is assigned to work with the more experienced Stone. Though somewhat episodic, the majority of The Messenger concerns the relationship between Montgomery and Stone.

Structurally, the narrative of Montgomery and Stone frames a series of smaller narratives. Every time Montgomery or Stone tells a family member a soldier has died, that telling is a small narrative. Each of those smaller narratives is, in a way, contained within the larger narrative of Montgomery and Stone. As a tactic, this narratives within narrative structure allows The Messenger to portray loss of massive scope – news of death comes to many families in many ways, with the narrative of Montgomery and Stone holding everything together. The larger narrative of Montgomery and Stone is engaging, fairly smart, semi-conventional, and extraordinarily well acted. However, the smaller narratives are more forceful. Knowing this, director Oren Moverman allows these smaller narratives to invade the narrative of Montgomery and Stone, and, eventually, the narratives of the wars themselves. About halfway through the movie, while Stone is watching T.V., a single line reminds us that CNS is nationwide: “I think they oughta put every funeral on T.V.” says Stone. But this is not a political movie – this is a movie about loss.

It's also a strangely meta-filmic movie. Montgomery's and Stone's telling of killings is rigidly scripted by the Army, and Montgomery and Stone attempt to perform the script with detachment. Almost all of the performances go somewhat awry – who, after all, could react rationally to the delivery or reception of such news? This self-reference points to the constructed nature of The Messenger. I'm reminded of something the novelist Orhan Pamuk once said - “I write not to tell a story, but to compose a story.” Another, darker, question arises – are Montgomery's and Stone's performances to the families of killed soldiers related to Foster's and Harrelson's – the movie's – performances to us? As The Messenger relates, the actual news of a soldier's death could be related to the family by email or telegram, but a social want has created the CNS and the assignments of Montgomery and Stone. As “Home, Home on the Range” played over the closing credits, I wondered how our society will further process the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as they drag on, becoming more deadly and abstract.

William S. Burroughs - Thanksgiving Prayer

An all-time favorite. Enjoy the break!
 
Thanksgiving Prayer By: William S. Burroughs

Seek Perfection | MySpace Video

Tree Knees

Here are some pictures of some tree knees (found off the internet). Some of Taryn's forms remind me of them. At Caddo Lake in East Texas they are everywhere...it's almost as if you are surrounded by some sort of mythological creatures...and if you look just right, they'll trick you into thinking they are moving :) But I suppose it's just their reflections in the water.

AC/IC

Hi all. I finally posted the first podcast of Arts & Culture Iowa City on the internets. I'll copy the post here. Enjoy tape-recorded goodness of this month's art walk.

Sara Black (Material Exchange), Visiting Artist

Eric Asboe & John Engelbrecht, Understanding the Understood - Arts Iowa City

Michael Meyers , Musician and Sculptor - Washington & Dubuque

Sean Alexander, Back to the World - Public Space One

Caleb Engstrom, Dia de los Muertos - BS Gallery

Click here to download the program

For the Record

Goblin Valley is actually in Utah
http://photosandsuch.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/goblin-valley-state-park-the-goblins/

Eileen Myles reading

This Tuesday at 7pm at Prairie Lights, the poet Eileen Myles will read from her collection of art essays, The Importance of Being Iceland. Details here: http://www.prairielights.com/eileen-myles

"I Used to Call Myself Elvis"

I just received the email below about a talk next Thursday on Indian call centers. Thought some of you might be interested. Jesse, this could relate to some of your investigations regarding work environment. In this case, the employees are required to wear a mask...


International Programs and the South Asian Studies Program
Present a free public lecture:

“I Used to Call Myself 'Elvis’:
The Politics of Experience in Indian Call Centers”

Aimee Carrillo Rowe
Associate Professor of Rhetoric, POROI (Project on the Rhetoric
Of Inquiry), and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies

Indian call center agents become estranged from their immediate surroundings
as they stretch their imaginations and identities to meet American customers
in the virtual space of the telephone call. Drawing on interviews with fifty
call center workers, this presentation considers the implications of the
particular demands of their transnational labor for agents’ sense of
embodied being.

Thursday, Nov. 19, 4:00 PM
1117 University Capitol Center
Chai and snacks will be served.

For more information on this presentation or for special accommodations to
attend, please contact Heidi Vekemans, Events Coordinator, UI International
Programs, at (319) 335-3862 or heidi-vekemans@uiowa.edu