Cast: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Running Time: 1 hr 47 min


REVIEW:

The problem with movies adapted from true-to-life events, especially the ones that made the headlines, is that you know how the story goes. So, sod the flick and let’s go watch something else that’s entirely new.

An hour and forty seven minutes later, there I was, still watching A MIGHTY HEART, a bit shaken, gripped and unquestionably moved by this film of astounding gravity. There are many films nowadays that are based on real events, but only a few wholeheartedly pay tribute to some tragic moments of our history. And because A MIGHT HEART is tinged with tragedy, it’s nevertheless directed and performed with passion and earnest determination, just like the main protagonist Marianne Pearl, who stood her ground, showed courage under fire while the world around her rages in confusion and chaos.

At the heart of this story is Daniel Pearl’s abduction in Pakistan, the American journalist who was kidnapped while in the territory of Karachi, and was wrongly accused as an American spy. While on his way for an interview with Sheikh Gilani, regarding the issues of the 9/11 attacks, he was kidnapped and never destined to find his way back again to his wife. Now Marianne Pearl’s struggle as the 5-month pregnant wife as soon as she knew that his husband never came home to her that evening is a physically, mentally, and emotionally distressing journey in search for his husband. It’s her story that’s the breathing life and blood that keeps the central core alive. Of course, we know the ending, as it the video of Daniel Pearl’s beheading and body being chopped to pieces was proliferated in the internet some years ago (I remember seeing it, actually, so gross and disturbing), but it’s the tension that was built in the film that instantly holds our horses and let us experience the heartbreaking search of this man chained to society and culture’s misunderstanding. Even though we know the tragic ending and Daniel Pearl dies – as soon as Marianne (Angelina Jolie) receives the news, in a emotionally powerful scene where she ebbs back into her room and cried out as hope was snatched away from her, we sit motionlessly, and just watch the scene unfold with ferocious attention.

Albeit surrounded by appreciable actors, mostly unknown, it’s Angelina Jolie who commands serious consideration. With all the Hollywood-and-tabloid sensationalism, she manages to pull out her punches and delivers her most solid and most demanding role in her entire career. Surely, her performance in A MIGHT HEART will prove that her nabbing an Oscar for her role in GIRL, INTERRUPTED was no fluke, and that she can really act. Her comprehension of Marianne’s struggle and strength through these difficult times of her lives can be felt realistically, from the pitch-perfect delivery of Marianne’s French-Cuban accent, to her demeanour – she imposes a believable and convincing character of a very strong woman, like an unflappable tree at the midst of a storm, but can still be very brittle and vulnerable like a glass. She shows this unyielding strength; rarely bore by any, especially at the farragoes that target the human weaknesses. It will be both dishonour and injustice if this performance gets snubbed by Oscars this year; as so far this year, Jolie’s probably the only one yet that deserved some inexorable appreciation. Dan Futterman, the acclaimed writer of CAPOTE, also stars as Daniel Pearl, which gives justice to this man who bid farewell to this world in the brutal hand of the terrorists.

Thanks, as well, to Michael Winterbottom for directing this film out of the Hollywood territorial bullshit. He gives this film a sense of urgency to this world, with choppy scenes as though they were reels from the television news programme, almost documentary-like. The decision of doing so honours the film that mighty impact it deserved.


VERDICT:

Humane, upright, and emotionally heart-stabbing, A MIGHTY HEART needs a mighty attention to this world of chaos and clutter, from the struggle of this pregnant Marianne Pearl in the slow, painful demise of her husband. Angelina Jolie’s powerful turn is worth seeing alone, giving her every scene that compelling gravitas done by real actors with compassion. Oscars! Watch and learn.



RATING: A-