Review of A Mighty Heart (2007) by Keith C — 06 Jan 2012

I was engrossed in "A Mighty Heart" but, in the end, I can't decide if it was an excellent movie or just the rewinding of a compelling news story. I tend to lean more toward the latter. This is not to leave director Michael Winterbottom without compliment, however.

After all, were it not for his docu-drama shooting style and the exclusion of many scenes and conversations that the audience might have wanted to see, this film would not have felt so much like a real news story unfolding.

But it did. Mariane Pearl's decision to maintain a cool public persona makes it tough to sympathize with her because we are so used to seeing the spouses of a kidnapping victim writhing around in agony in films.

In that way, Jolie is startling in a chameleon-like performance that is, perhaps, too subtle to be recognized for big awards this year, but worthy of praise. Dan Futterman is hauntingly similar to the real Pearl physically, and so both of the lead actors continue to make us feel like we are watching CNN instead of a real film.

In the end, however, I'm not sure that this is an "amazing" movie just because the director made the obvious choice to have it look real. It did take on a bit of a police procedural feel for me at times.

That being said, it was compelling and sad, and stirred up all sorts of emotions in me, forcing me to question how I feel about the governement of Pakistan, which is even more at the center of the stage of world events than it was when this happened to Daniel Pearl.