Posting my Reviews #2: A Mighty Heart

A Mighty Movie

Laura Bailey – Review #2

Fantastic flim. Bluntly put, this is Angelina’s best performance to date. Looking back now, I overheard some hesitancy about the film after the press screening. Why? I have no idea, but I debunk all the negative criticism here and now.

Maybe the atmosphere was what won me over from the start. In all honesty, who wouldn’t love a film if Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were sitting two rows behind you? My fear was that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the film with the most famous couple in the world staring at the back of my head. But no, I was captivated from the beginning by trying to figure out how each character’s role fit within the story.

The film is told in a style that leans towards a documentary from the viewpoint of Daniel Pearl’s widow, Mariane, played by Angelina Jolie. The opening scene centers solely on the bonds between Daniel (Dan Futtermail) and Mariane as husband and wife, future mother and father, and respected journalists. The ties of loyalty and devotion are the threads that never break throughout the film – even in death.

Tragedy is the overarching fallback. No matter the course of events, you know the ending is going to be gut-wrenching. The film reminds me of Titantic because no matter how many times you watch it or hope for a miracle – it sinks every time.

I was a sophomore in high school, sixteen years old, when the Pearl story made the headlines. I knew doom was imminent for the film. What mystified me was the raw emotion in each of the character’s faces that left me praying for a different ending halfway through the film.

The camera centers on each character’s face, one at a time. In doing so, it captures the individual emotion and highlights the consistency and contrast of expression. When the investigation of Daniel’s kidnapping hit its first road block by discovering that one suspect was a set up, the camera pans over both Randell Bennett (Will Patton) and Mariane. First, Mariane is followed while she paces frantically around the room. Then the camera checks to Bennett who stands in one spot moving only his arms up and down insisting stoically, “This is a good thing. Now we know.” The scene exits with the camera again following Jolie outside the house as she lowers her head in desperation.

No scene is wasted or useless. Probably the scenes least relevant to the investigation impacted me the most. A chill went down the back of my neck when Marianne texted Danny’s mobile, “I love you,” though she knew the odds were he would not receive the message. That same message correlated with her CNN interview last words, “I love you.” And during Jolie’s tear-jerking mourning scene over Danny’s death, her words to him while lying on the bed are, “I love you.” This is where the constant message of loyalty and devotion plays out through the film.

I caught myself in denial in these moments. Surely a love and bond as strong as Mariane and Danny’s would result in hope with a victory in the end. However, I kept reminding myself several times throughout, “But he doesn’t make it.”

When Mariane’s mobile rang with the caller ID reading, “Danny,” I accidently grabbed the arm of the gentleman sitting to the right of me and said aloud, “No way!” It is from these gripping scenes that adrenaline rushes through you during the film. Despite the fact that you know fate holds only a dead end, you don’t want to believe it.

But love doesn’t conquer all. When Mariane is delivered the news of Danny’s beheading, you mourn with her in the five minute scene of piercing screams. I knew from the beginning that I would be morning the entire way through the film, but I was forced to forget. The strength of hope displayed in each of the character’s faces makes you believe. Even now after the movie is finished, I still crave to watch it again. Why? It is for the same reason why people watch the Titanic sink again and again. It is because you don’t want to believe that something so beautiful and so strong – such as Danny and his devotion to powerful journalism – could fall. Danny too ignored his “iceberg warnings.” However, he still carried out his duties as a journalist to his end. I will make plans to see the film again in June when it premieres in the states. My prediction is that it will be quite a success in the United States market because it was a story remembered during a humbling time for the nation. The story is still pertinent in today’s news due to the continued violence in the Middle East. The film does an excellent job of portraying Americans living in a country that is not theirs and where they have no control. The scenes of horrific Pakistani living conditions, transportation, and hygiene in contrast to Americans living behind an upper-middle class gated house serve as a vivid reminder of two worlds attempting to live together. The end result in the death of an American parallel to the imprisonment of his kidnappers exerts both justice and humility: justice in that Pakistan and the United States joined and fought but humility in the sense that no one won the fight. All that was uncovered was the awful truth of a divided nation and the decapitated body of a man who tried to uncover that truth.

I want to experience the film again. I wasn’t watching a movie; rather, I was on a journey to find the truth. I want to lose myself in Mariane’s journey despite the tragedy. The message that Mariane presents and that Jolie depicts is that love does reign in the end. Danny is gone, but his legacy of love, loyalty and duty lives strong.

(Cast and Credits A Mighty Heart. Director: Michael Winterbotttom. Writers: John Orloff, Mariane Pearl. Cast: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Maureen Platt, Will Patton, Irfan Khan.)