the kidnapping of Mariane's husband, Daniel Pearl, a journalist, is one of many that have taken place after the events of 9/11. Putting the focus mostly on Mariane and the search for Daniel, Winterbottom's movie tries to capture the chaos and the doubt Mariane's living in, afraid of never seeing her husband again. With fast cutting, A Mighty Heart speeds up the pace, but not always for the better. Throughout the film you can feel the tension and the fear, but the film just shows too much to be fully captured by it. Especially the middle feels too long. There's too much repetition and after a while the search becomes tiring. There are some breakthroughs which are supposed to lure you into the belief of an actual happy ending. But because the outcome of the events is already clear the attempts of creating excitement, doesn't fully grasp you. What's left are a very solid beginning and a beautiful emotion filled ending, which feels like a real closure and leaves you with the faith of Mariane and her son living a happy life nomatter the events concerning Daniel's death. Winterbottom and Jolie succeed in making Mariane a strong woman who is in full control of her emotions, with only one real breakdown, a scene that cuts right through your soul, due to the horrifying screams of grief let out by Jolie. It's one of the strongest scenes, and the one that has the most impact. In what could have easily turned into an overdramatic performance, Jolie manages to stay authentic and subtle, with glances that show the pain felt inside. Never overshadowed by the rest of the cast, Jolie reigns supreme and becomes the heart of the movie, giving a very strong and solid performance. Especially towards the end as a viewer you feel scared for her knowing of the outcome of the events and the pain she will have to endure once she gets hold of this knowledge. The supporting cast, however, is very strong, with standout performances by both Archie Panjabi and Irfan Khan. Overall A Mighty Heart feels a bit as a letdown, especially compared to other films by Winterbottom like the wonderful and intriguing Code 46. On the one hand A Mighty Heart tries to show too much, becoming nothing more than a showing of the events, but on the other, the story feels to small for a motion picture. The strange thing is that the film feels way longer than it actually is. It only has a runtime of 100 minutes, which isn't all that long, but overall the film feels to show more than 2 hours. A large part of this has to do with the length of the middle of the film, which includes parts that doesn't show Mariane at all. This short departure doesn't feel right, as the focus of the film until then, has been most on Mariane, even though a large part of the focus is also on the search for Daniel and the people involved. It's hard what exactly to think of A Mighty Heart. It's a good film which succeeds in showing how those days after Daniel's dissappearance must have been like. The atmosphere and the state Mariane lives in are translated to the screen perfectly. Still the film doesn't really seem to lead towards anything, at least not to anything you as a viewer don't already know. There isn't much to think about, there isn't much to assume. All Winterbottom does is show what happened to Mariane and Daniel without giving his audience an insight on other experiences or giving a real critique on the way the search and the communication between investigators and kidnappers is handled. Winterbottom briefly touches upon the way the news depicts rumours as facts, when a body is found of a man who is thought to be Daniel. In what could have been a very powerful and interesting scene, is turned into nothing more than a sidenote. There are brief reactions about this not verifying of information, but these don't hold the intenseness of what you would have expected from the journalists. The most clear example of Winterbottom trying to take sides is when Mariane is told that her involvement isn't the job of a journalist and she states that it actually is.What is it about?
Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street journalist, is happily married to his wife Mariane, who is pregnant with their first child, when he suddenly dissapears after having attended a meeting
which was set up for him through correspondances via e-mail. Mariane is left without almost any trace of where here husband could be. Supported by, Asra Q. Nomani, a close friend and colleague of Danny, she begins her journey to get Daniel back. Helped by a team of investigators they try to find as much information as they can get, searching for the people who set up the meeting and whom Daniel has last spoken to. Not knowing if she will ever see her husband again, she keeps faith of a safe return home, though her gut tells her that chance is a very small one. Still during everything that happens Mariane stays strong, never falling victim to her inner emotions which scream to get out.Final Verdict: ***
A Mighty Heart definitely is not a bad movie. It's just that it could have been done so much better. There's a good structure, but the middle is just too filled with events that aren't all that interesting. As a viewer you expect to see Mariane's story, what she went through and how it must be to live in doubt for days. The film succeeds in showing those feelings, but the differences between beginning, end and middle are just too big. A Mighty Heart isn't an action film. It wants to be as truthful to the events, without being too much a product of entertainment. It's what makes the adaptation of this story so hard. The film shows the search, an aspect which in, for example, the Jason Bourne series, could have taken into full use. An event like this could have fitted in perfectly in that kind of film. And that's exactly where the problem lies. The middle of the film isn't exciting enough to keep the viewer's full interest, which has to do with that
urge to show the real events, meaning you can't change too many things if you want to stay faithful to what really happened. Therefore the search becomes somewhat tiring and at times though to sit through. The scenes involving Mariane, because of that, are in this way, the most interesting. The search is very well depicted, though. The scenes taking place outside feel very energetic. Karachi is an energetic city and Winterbottom succeeds in capturing its spirit. The constant movement of the camera enhances the documentary feel also felt in Winterbottom's earlier, In This World. Bleak images, without many colours fit the story very well and add to the realness and rawness of the film. A Mighty Heart, even though it's not the best film, is definitely worth to check out and features a very strong performance by Angelina Jolie who finally grabs onto a challenging role again after winning her Academy Award for her role in Girl Interrupted.
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