Angelina impresses in this harrowing drama about the Al-Qaeda kidnapping of journalist Daniel Pearl.
A Mighty Heart is the much-discussed procedural-style drama about the real-life post-9/11 kidnapping and subsequent murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl. In 2002, Daniel and Mariane Pearl were in Karachi, Pakistan, where Daniel, who was South Asia Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal at the time, was researching a story on the shoe-bomber Richard Reid. On the night of January 22, Daniel left for a meeting with a militant Pakistani cleric. He never returned home.
While the world watched news reports about Daniel's kidnapping, Mariane, 
who was also a reporter, was mustering all her forces to locate and rescue him. Based on her memoir of the same name, A Mighty Heart tells the story.
The elephant in A Mighty Heart’s room, of course, is Angelina Jolie. Or rather, the controversial choice to cast her as Mariane Pearl. Produced by Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B Entertainment, the role of Mariane was originally rumored to be meant for Jennifer Aniston. But then the Aniston-Pitt divorce happened, and the next thing you know the part is Angelina’s.
Celebrity romance drama aside, I have long held the belief that Jolie is not exactly what one would call a formidable talent. Yes, anyone with eyes knows she is stunning. And yes, she won an Oscar for her performance as the scene-stealing mental hospital patient in Girl, Interrupted. But I always thought that was sort of a default. You know, it’s not so much that she was doing such a magnificent job acting crazy as it was that she is crazy. Or at least was crazy—slightly excessive penchant for adoption aside, she seems to have mellowed tremendously in her post-Billy-Bob-blood-necklace years.
But still, the point remains. After seeing Jolie stink up the place with that ridiculous accent in Alexander, I had my concerns about her managing to play a bi-racial Cuban French journalist in A Mighty Heart. I am surprised, and I suppose pleased to say that my misgivings were for naught. Jolie does Pearl proud with a serious, restrained, and dignified performance. And although Pearl’s character isn’t an especially flashy one, per se, I would say that given the subject matter of the film, Jolie probably already has another Oscar nomination locked up—if not a win.
I think, however, the most impressive thing about A Mighty Heart is how gripping and tense it manages to be despite the fact that the bulk, if not all, of its audience goes into the theater already knowing the ending. Everyone knows what happened to Daniel Pearl (played by Dan Futterman), and yet you still find yourself totally wound up as you watch him head towards his inevitable kidnapping. In fact, that very inevitability even serves to build tension because you know what is coming and you wish you could stop it from happening.
It is to director Michael Winterbottom’s (24 Hour Party People, Welcome to Sarajevo) credit that he can achieve such a powerful film without bludgeoning his audience with the images of the unspeakable violence that were inherent in Pearl’s last days. Instead, he uses the Shakespearean “imagined violence is worst of all” approach, and opts to fill the screen with images of everyday life in Karachi. Combined with his documentarian roots, the effect is to make the story feel both more realistic and more frustrating—as you see the horrifying reality of what Mariane was up against in her desperate search to save Danny. With the chaos that was—and is—Pakistan, it is a wonder they were able to 
make any headway at all.
Because the kidnapping takes place at the beginning of the film, Winterbottom includes a healthy dose of flashbacks to Mariane’s life with Danny, which serves to keep their relationship alive in the audience’s mind. While I understand this, at times I found the flashbacks or even cuts through present time a little disruptive. While I certainly don’t want to criticize a filmmaker for actually assuming his audience is intelligent, a lot of the details could have been established better. Between the accents of most of the characters, the unfamiliar Pakistani political system, and the frequent fast cuts throughout time, A Mighty Heart did get a bit difficult to follow at times.
I can’t wrap things up in a nice little happy bow for you here. A Mighty Heart is a powerful, heavy film that doesn’t pull any punches and doesn’t deliver the prototypical happy Hollywood ending. But it is well worth your time and your thoughts. Just be prepared to be a little shell-shocked by the time you leave the theater.
ReelzChannel Rating: 