>>REVIEW
A MIGHTY HEART
STARRING Angelina Jolie and Dan Futterman
DIRECTED BY Michael Winterbottom
Opens Friday, June 22
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There are plenty of reasons to believe that Michael Winterbottom’s new film, A Mighty Heart, might be met with some controversy. Just five years after Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and murder by a Pakistani terrorist group, some may feel it’s tosaid controversy. Most of its critics seem much more concerned with the casting of Angelina Jolie as his wife, Mariane. It is instantly clear when watching the film, though, that the apparent anger caused by Jolie’s casting is misguided, as she provides a very convincing performance, staying true to the vision of Mariane Pearl, who wrote a memoir of the same name after Pearl’s death.
The film begins quickly with Daniel (played by Pearl’s virtual doppelganger, Dan Futterman), arranging an interview with a terrorist leader and being warned repeatedly to make sure that the interview takes place in public. Winterbottom artfully avoids showing the specifics of Pearl’s kidnapping, but rather shows it from Mariane’s perspective, as hours go by without Daniel returning home. Suddenly, her house is flooded with police officers, and the possibility of Daniel’s kidnapping realistically becomes a reality without an official announcement.
The film is careful to depict the terrorist group responsible for the kidnapping as a small fringe group. Interestingly, it also shows that the people helping in the search for Pearl have very different reasons for doing so, especially the captain of the Pakistani police, who is simply trying to salvage the international reputation of his country.
Of course, it is common knowledge how A Mighty Heart ends. The film, again tastefully, does not show the much publicized video of Pearl’s murder, though perhaps the only thing worse is leaving it to the viewer’s imagination.
Winterbottom and Mariane Pearl show great restraint in simply telling the story without letting the movie go over its own head into political and social commentary. Some people will surely complain about the apparent lack of emotion in the film, especially considering the subject matter, but it is consistent with Mariane Pearl’s actual TV appearances during the ordeal (which are depicted in the film). It is this commitment to the facts, and the avoidance of adding manufactured drama, that make A Mighty Heart a success. |
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