A Mighty Heart
Thursday, 20 Sep 2007 08:56
Angelina Jolie is outstanding as the fiercely resolute Mariane
Paramount, directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi, Irfan Khan, out in cinemas September 21st.
In a nutshell…
Facing the uncomfortable, inevitable outcome
What's it all about?
The name Daniel Pearl remains one of the most entered search phrases on Google. News of the Wall Street Journal reporter's execution in early 2002 was vividly confirmed by the release of a video showing his beheading, five weeks after his abduction in Karachi, Pakistan. While America mourned the loss of one of its citizens, his French wife Mariane was left to bring up her yet-to-be born son alone. This film, based on her memoirs, sets out to humanise an already-sensationalised news story.
As soon as the film starts, set as it is in the bustling Pakistani city, Angelina Jolie's Mariane takes centre stage. Her voiceover describes why she, pregnant with the couple's first child, and her 38-year-old husband were there. Both journalists, Daniel was planning one last big piece before the couple left for the more luxurious climes of the Emirates. On the evening of January 23rd 2003 he thought he was about to interview Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani as part of his intvestigations into the web of claim and counter-claim that is Pakistan's links with extremism. What he was actually doing was taking a trip which was to lead to his very public death.
Who's in it
Angelina Jolie is outstanding. She plays the fiercely resolute Mariane with aplomb and you feel the focus of attention she commands in this film is akin to the woman she is playing. Her strength of character and indefatigable spirit shine through. And the piercing wails she lets out upon hearing of Daniel's death haunt long after the film ends.
Archie Panjabi's Asra, an Indian journalist friend of the Pearls, acts as Mariane's crutch on the few times she needs it and Irfan Khan plays the chief of the Pakistan CIA to near-perfection – striking the delicate balance needed to torture suspects and conduct delicate diplomacy.
Dan Futterman, who wrote the screenplay for the critically-lauded Capote, is Daniel Pearl, but his appearances take second stage to those of Jolie's, upon whose character the picture hangs. Director Michael Winterbottom shows very little of the actual abduction and steers clear of portraying the shocking imagery of his death, opting instead to focus on the reactions of those who survive.
As an example…
"He has a gun to his head and he is smiling. He is telling me he is OK." – Mariane, when confronted with pictures of her kidnapped husband emailed to her by his kidnappers.
"Kidnappers. Their point is to terrorise people. But I am not terrorised, and you can't be terrorised." – Mariane to the others involved in the search for Daniel after the news of his death.
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Winterbottom may not be Hollywood's usual sort of director but this has all the makings of an Oscar nominee, if not winner. Jolie should also be up there for best actress. She plays an incredibly testing part better than you could imagine anyone else doing it. Archie Panjabi, too, should not be far away from the best-supporting nominations.
What the others say
"Based on Mariane's memoirs, the film is given a raw and riveting docudrama treatment by the superb British director Michael Winterbottom, whose films – from Welcome to Sarajevo to 24 Hour Party People – are notable for their total absence of Hollywood bull****. A Mighty Heart is no exception." – Rolling Stone
"Winterbottom's films get praised by critics who approve his flashy political stance but don't question his imbecilic style or notice his penchant to bamboozle. In terms of winning hearts and minds, A Mighty Heart is a disaster." – New York Press
So is it any good?
Films such as this do not need to be overdramatised. The story itself is enough. Thankfully, Winterbottom has kept that doctrine at the core of his work and let his fine cast do the job of telling the story by their words and reactions. He has also avoided the temptation of putting Daniel's captivity and eventual beheading at the centre of the film – a decision that would otherwise have left it relying on conjecture. Instead he allows the sheer mayhem of Karachi life to set the scene – with the growing emphasis on Mariane's enclosure within her home adding to the uneasy claustrophobia he seeks to instil.
In every way, this is the film of a journalist. Facts and research permeates and poetic licence seems cast aside. Undue politicisation is kept to a minimum and Winterbottom has evoked a sense of multiculturalism through the motley crue assembled to find Daniel. A Pakistani investigator, an American diplomatic security official, Jewish reporters and an Indian colleague of Mariane's all combine for the very-basic cause of searching for one woman's husband.
Jolie is superb and is perfectly cast. Her devotion to the role and doing justice to the woman on whom it is based is clear. Her presence and spirit alone make the film an affecting affair.
Neither director nor star turn have sought to make this film their own. It is very much a recounting of a tale, complete with deliberately erratic and chaotic editing to place the film in its correct context. For such a Hollywood luminary to take the pivotal role but not seek the limelight is unusual, especially as her tinseltown husband Brad Pitt is one of the producers, but the film is all the better for it. It is not about Jolie or Winterbottom. It is about Daniel and Mariane Pearl, two very real people with a chillingly real story to tell.
8.5/10
Martin Ashplant
To view the A Mighty Heart trailer, click here.
And to hear what Angelina Jolie herself had to say about the film click here.
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