A Mighty Heart review
This A Mighty Heart movie review was written after watching a screening at The Duke of Yorks cinema in Brighton, England.
A Mighty Heart is the dramatised version of the events surrounding the capture and subsequent execution of Wall Street Journalist Daniel Pearl. It is directed by Michael Winterbottom, stars Angelina Jolie as Daniels wife Mariane and was produced in part by her husband Brad Pitt.
When I normally watch a film it is to have a story told to me, I rarely read anything about the plots of the films I see, and I relish the mystery of even the simplest story lines. I don’t want to know the ending or events in a film before watching it, and normally that makes good sense. The one exception to this is when a film, like A Mighty Heart, is based on real life events. There is no mystery, we know what will happen, especially if, like me, you read the newspapers. The beauty of these films, for me, the mystery if you will, lies in the way the events are presented.
Gus Van Sant with Elephant, the film about the Columbine school massacre managed to create a compelling view of the lives of the involved students, so much so that its possible to forget what the film is actually about, and when the event occurs, we are emotionally involved and shocked. Nick Broomfield’s Ghosts, a film about the Chinese cockle pickers killed in Morcambe Bay introduced a back story and was slow enough to allow us to get to know all the involved characters. Neither film was 100% accurate, some of the events depicted were imagined but both stood up as documentary and feature film.
In contrast, A Mighty Heart presents us with bare facts, at a fast pace, but little else. It concentrates purely on the events between the kidnapping and death of Daniel, but looks only at the search for him and the effect the events have on his wife. It seems like a lot happens, but there is little room for character development, no time to get to know anyone properly. What does happen is not especially interesting either, investigators try to find who kidnapped Daniel, and in time they do. Of course, we know all this already, its in the papers. What does this film add to the facts?
In terms of the cast, the main star Angelina Jolie is not the worlds most engaging actresses at the best of times, and in this role she seems adequate, but in no way superior to any other person who can be made to look like Mariane Pearl. The remaining actors also seem to be going through the motions, so it would appear the director has taken the approach that the cast should keep as real as possible, and indeed the film has the appearance of a documentary.
I can understand the issues when making a film based on book written by the main character who is still alive. It would not really have been possible to present the film in any other way without likely going against the nature of the book and the wishes of its author, Daniels wife. In addition it can be said that many people going to see this film will not know about the events it depicts and will hopefully develop their understanding of the situation a little. I still felt that a lot more could have been done to explain the situation surrounding the kidnapping, the US foreign policy issues in Pakistan and the general political climate in which the events are set. The film will not stand the test of time very well as it is, and is barely adequate now to the more politically uninformed.
A slightly wasted opportunity then, but still more informative than a lot of the stuff we go to see at the cinema these days so well done to all involved for trying.
Trailer
Angelina and Brad interviewed
For an interactive look at the story and film visit the official website, the wikipedia article on Daniel Pearl contains more information on the events.
To see more films like A Mighty Heart visit The Duke of Yorks in Brighton.
To understand the world better and find out about many similar events occuring around the world everyday visit democracynow.org – the only news source worth watching.
i slightly disagree. Jolie was a pleasure to watch, and the film was a treasure. Gripped from beginning to end, even though the outcome was known. The way the film was shot made you feel like you were a fly on the wall, these people weren’t acting! Or so it seemed. Your reviews are normally bang on but I must disagree with this one.