A Mighty Heart
Director: Michael Winterbottom. Screenplay: John Orloff, based on Mariane Pearl’s memoir. Cinematography: Marcel Zyskind. Film editing: Peter Christelis. Production design: Mark Digby. Music: Harry Escott, Molly Nyman. Producers: Brad Pitt, Andrew Eaton, Dede Gardner. With: Dan Futterman, Angelina Jolie, Archie Panjabi, Will Patton, Irrfan Khan, Adnan Siddiqui, Gary Wilmes, Denis O’Hare, Mohammed Afzal, Mushtaq Khan, Daud Khan, Telal Saeed, Saira Khan, Aliya Khan, Amit Dhawan, Tipu Taheer, Arif Khan, Zafar Karachiwala, Sarah Mone, Bushra Parwani. USA/UK. 108 min. 2007.
Docudrama about the ordeal suffered by Mariane Pearl when her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped in Pakistan and subsequently killed by Islamic extremists who knew he was Jewish and suspected he might also be a CIA operative, an international spy, and whatever else their paranoia may have suggested to them. Jolie gives a surprisingly solid performance as the French-Cuban heroine, and Futterman is very persuasive as her husband, who shows up mainly in cutaways and flashbacks. Panjabi and Patton lead the strong supporting cast as an Indian assistant and an American agent, respectively. Winterbottom’s stylistic versatility knows few boundaries, and while the camera work and editing here are a bit too kinetic for comfort, he infuses the fact-based action with galvanic energy in almost every scene. Orloff’s screenplay is similarly vivid, although it could have gone further in acknowledging the sense of privilege that the Americans take (too much) for granted as they work against the clock and the odds to find and rescue the brave journalist before a murderous fate overtakes him. In all, a worthy and important offering.
– David Sterritt
