A Mighty Heart

Rating:
Duration: 100 mins.
Genre: Drama.
Actors: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi, Will Patton, Irfan Khan, Sajid Hasan, Aly Khan, Denis O'Hare.
Director: Michael Winterbottom.
Release Date: Selected dates during the NZFF, general release 18 October 2007.

Synopsis
On January 23, 2002, Mariane Pearl's world changed forever. Her husband Daniel, South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, was researching a story on shoe bomber Richard Reid. The story drew them to Karachi where a go-between had promised access to an elusive source. As Danny left for the meeting, he told Mariane he might be late for dinner. He never returned…

The Reality
Being the opening film for the 2007 New Zealand Film Festival, A Mighty Heart was never going to be an action spectacular, despite the lead role going to Hollywood darling, Angelina Jolie.

Rather it’s a taught drama, paced brilliantly by both Winterbottom’s directing and Jolie’s grasp on her characters strengths, stamina and emotional character.

In fact one could possibly say it’s Angelina Jolie’s best performance to date.

Of course without the story line and the ensemble of supporting cast Jolie’s acting would have been for nought.

Frustratingly confusing at times, the storyline becomes a jumble of flash backs, imaginations and repetitive actions by the Pakistani police, but rather than inhibit the story telling, it illuminates perfectly the tangled web of lies, confusion, pride and inability that plagued the various groups represented, in their dire attempts to find out who has kidnapped Daniel Pearl.

Visually the movie is a mishmash of authentic news footage, home video style flashbacks and on the run, shoot-from-the-hip filming. In any other movie, this would be jarringly unacceptable, but in A Mighty Heart it only adds to the realness and frustrations felt by Mariane Pearl as she struggles to keep her head above water.

A brilliant, powerful, through provoking movie.

Food for thought
In reality, it all boils down to religious conviction, if we got rid of religion, the world would be at peace, right?