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A Mighty Heart
Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek (June 2007)
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi, Denis O'Hare, Irfan Khan
I must admit I was skeptical that the same man who shot the highly acclaimed yet controversial Road to Guantanamo could find the right frame in which to allow the execution of Wall Street Journal journalist to reach our screens. But this film is the perfect example of a director in control and skillfully sculpting life into a movie - a movie that challenges us to value liberty and freedom of speech, and examines xenophobia, without specifically stabbing the viewer with anything other than a series of events whose conclusion we are so painfully aware of. Winterbottom makes us question the truth we know, and for two hours suspends us in hope for a man whose fate we cannot forget and for the family-to-be that is growing within his wife's womb every minute he's gone.
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The emotional tension that resonates throughout what I consider to be Winterbottom's most masterful movie to date is in no small part due also to the cast. Dan Futterman's scholarly good looks find him fitting Daniel Pearl's shoes well, and the cast of captains, cab drivers and intel officers all existing in interweaving interrogation are thoroughly believable throughout their determined efforts to find the hostage and his hosts. But it is Mariane Pearl, on whose book the film is based, whose story needed to be told. It was Mariane Pearl's stubborn strength that the world saw when her husband was hunted down into an elaborate trap and slaughtered. And it is Angelina Jolie who brings her to us in a portrayal of a pregnant woman on the brink of devastation that is undeniably admirable. Jolie's well-reported beauty is tamed (a little) by her transformation to the also-beautiful Pearl - the hair, dark eyes, dark skin, French accent.
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That Jolie's performance can draw us irretrievably into this story when her brand has been so well-burned into our celebrity-driven psyche is a testament to what keeps her distinctive: She can act. It is that actual ability that keeps us from trivializing her as just another crazy/beautiful idol. Jolie has an Oscar under her belt already, and this is a performance and a person with a platform so extraordinary that it seems beyond doubt Jolie will pick up another nomination for this role.
This is a film everyone should see. The movie is not just entertaining, it's a lasting legacy to open-mindedness, and it exists as evidence of a quest to understanding over ignorance. With Daniel Pearl's son, Adam, now in the world, what expectations will we have of him?
Screening at the 2007 Festival de Cannes, A Mighty Heart drew throngs to its Red Carpet. For Red Carpet footage of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Mariane Pearl, please see MPM's video Angelina Jolie: on the red carpet at Cannes 2007.
For A Mighty Heart's Red Carpet stills of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Mariane Pearl, please see our Photo Gallery: Cannes Film Festival II.
Festival de Cannes Red Carpet for A Mighty Heart photographed by Alessandro Contaldo. Top: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt; Middle: includes Mariane Pearl and son Adam. |
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