Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie is long. It repeats too much. To see how it affects the character, you do not need to see it so many times. It is a film that if it were shorter would win many points.The actors are very good, but Harrelson is a very good actor, that is not discovering anything new.At least, do not waste time in sex, that's to be grateful. It does well. No need to see what to know what will happen.Photography does not help much. It is not a pretty photograph. It is austere without more.The director, directs characters, but does not see that there is a film left. The plans are basic. It does not place the camera well. He does not know how to narrate with her. It does not bore but it stagnates.It lets itself be seen.

Good, but could have been mind-blowingly great. The movie was set up perfectly in the first two-thirds or so, but failed to make a profound point. The final third isn't a waste, having some very poignant and sensitive moments, but it was set up for something massively insightful.Quite original plot and sensitive, flowing Clint Eastwood-like direction. Superb performances from Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson. Harrelson deserved his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Solid support from Samantha Morton and a good minor performance from Steve Buscemi.

Even securing Hollywood veteran Woody Harrelson his second Oscar nomination, the film has eluded me until now, and a long overdue viewing proves it is an overlooked gem on the recent war-trauma film list. The breakthrough effort of the film is its one-of-a-kind perspective, with zero scenes from the violent frontline (including the usual gambit of fly-on-the-wall clips), the modus operandi aims at the ominous casualty notification soldiers and one theatrical oomph originates from the various poignant reactions from the next-of-kins of dead soldiers in Iraq when they are being notified, a faintly tricky scheme to gain the empathy towards both the film and its main characters, which is a laudable feat and very operative due to a splendid cast and unostentatious script (the formality of notification is swell written).Budding as one of the versatile young actors in Hollywood, Ben Foster excels in his not-so- frequent leading role as an ostensible war-hero plagued by a hidden secret, typifies ideally a post-war anguish-tortured individual. Foster generates a magnificent screen chemistry both with his tutor-cum-friend Woody Harrelson (a well-developed supporting role as Foster's superior captain, whose behind-the-scene background story is finely underlined by Harrelson's scene-stealing faculty) and with a never-disheartening Samantha Morton, the paragraph when Morton unravels her inner affection and grief to Foster in her home is a total tour-de-force. So, the war-blasting viewpoint has been established in both cases with its direct victims potently (soldiers and their families), all the proofs are indisputable, and for majority of its audience who has no mighty to change any political imbroglio towards warfare, the film at least hardens the determination of respecting each individual in a more altruistic way and maybe the world will get better day by day.

How can a man overcome despair and reconstruct himself without love? Answer: he can't. This is the story of a rebirth. He returns from Iraq with a torn body and in love of a woman he knows since his childhood. They break up as she does not see a future for him. This is perhaps the most beautiful scene of the movie. Their lovemaking at the beginning is one of the most beautiful scenes of lovemaking I have ever seen. And yet, it carries a kind of finality with the terrible scene of that evening dinner when they stare at each other, fully knowing it is over. It is a long dark road for him, as his new duty is to inform families their sons and daughters have died in the line of duty. His commanding officer is strictly forbidding any kind of relation or compassion with the NOK (Next of Kin). And in pitch darkness he finds light with a young widow. Their story is as fragile as a desert flower after the rain. A blossom with a future? Yes, because the seed is buried deep, and even separated by distance, their hearts know that they are meant for each other. A beautiful love story it is. It is not about war, it is about loneliness and despair. And there are angels. No one is left alone. Love saves.