A MIGHTY HEART
OF ALL WHAT’S AND NO VIBES
By Vishal Verma
Rating:- * *
What is it?
A Mighty Heart is a political docu drama that tells meticulous details but explains almost nothing. Who, what, when and where are covered, but not why. "A Mighty Heart" is supposed to carry the message of “triumph of the human spirit" but it shows no triumph and contains no spirit. On a theoretical level we can admire Marianne Pearl for not allowing hatred to enter her heart after this tragedy.
It’s certainly a factor that the film is as uncomfortable as you’d imagine, perhaps more so than those 9/11 dramas, because of its individual focus. We know that it happened because the beheading of Daniel Pearl, targeted for unfounded CIA links and his Jewish background, was broadcast via the internet. So we know what’s coming, And with Michael Winterbottom, director of such post-9/11 dramas as In This World and The Road To Guantanamo, behind the camera, it was never going to be The Angelina Show anyway, even after the movie is based on the widows trauma and ordeal.
If you know are going to get some insight on Pearl’s horrible death then you will be highly disappointed.
Why did Pearl die? Because he was kidnapped by al-Qaida terrorists while researching a story. Why did they kill him? Because he was American, and probably because he was Jewish as well. What did they think they would gain by this?
"A Mighty Heart" doesn't consider that question.Whats it all about?
While working in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002, Wall Street Journal writer Daniel Pearl (Futterman) is kidnapped. Confined to their home, his pregnant wife Mariane (Jolie) waits for his release, unprepared for the horror that is about to unfold.
Working on a story about the infamous "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who had been captured a month earlier, Pearl leaves to meet a source that evening and never returns.
Although what happened to Pearl is well documented, Winterbottom does not follow him into captivity. Instead the story's focus turns to Marianne, six months pregnant at the time, and the efforts to find her husband. Jolie's accent is distracting at first (Marianne Pearl is French), but her performance is competent.
An investigative journalist herself, Marianne insists she join the team trying to locate her husband. They include Pakistani anti-terrorist police lead by Captain (Irrfan Khan) and U.S. State Department personnel led by Randall Bennett (Will Patton). The investigators set up a makeshift headquarters in the home of Pearl's friend Asra (Archie Panjabi), also a Wall Street Journal correspondent.What to look out for?
A solid strong turn from Jolie, portraying a wife’s ordeal. Terrific performance by Irrfan Khan.
What Not?
Nothing in A Mighty Heart conveys the magnanimity of its title.
There are no reasons in "A Mighty Heart," which holds you and sets your heart beats although it pretends to have them as it shown from the perspective of Pearl's wife, Marianne.
Instead of life-or-death suspense, Winterbottom uses digital photography that creates a befuddled vision.
About 90 percent of "A Mighty Heart" plays as a police procedural. Marianne pulls out a large dry erase board and writes names and then connects them with circles and arrows as information about Daniel's sources come in. But even as Captain's men capture suspects, we know the enterprise is doomed, that Pearl will be murdered and a video of his decapitation will be uploaded to the Internet.