A Frantic Search in A Mighty Heart
Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman

By Breanne Boland June 28, 2007 Issue

Mariane Pearl was criticized for the composed interviews she gave during the disappearance of her late husband, journalist Daniel Pearl. The same criticism could be leveled at A Mighty Heart, the cinematic adaptation of her memoir about Danny’s kidnapping and death. It’s true, Angelina Jolie depicts Mariane as rigidly composed during the weeks-long ordeal, but her portrayal is skilled, showing a stoic veneer just barely covering depths of panic and anguish.

Mariane and Danny were both journalists; after Sept. 11, they both flew to Pakistan to cover developments in the Middle East. However, when most journalists were drawn to other countries in the region, the Pearls stayed, continuing to explore what was happening in Karachi. While trying to chase down a particularly risky interview, Daniel Pearl was kidnapped.

The efforts to find him involved Pakistani and American law enforcement, editors and writers from the Wall Street Journal, diplomats, shysters, and terrorists. The Pearls’ serene home was transformed into the headquarters of an international operation; an expanding whiteboard covers one wall, showing the enormous map of connections, suspects, and dead ends they encounter.

The film bristles with immediacy; the camera clings to its subjects, diving into crowds, creeping over walls with soldiers as they silently surround a house. It’s made all the more tense by the fact that everyone knows how this story ends; everyone has seen the pictures and has heard about the video. Instead of shuddering at each ill-fated development, you cringe because you know what’s coming next, what Mariane still has waiting for her.

Much has been made of casting white Angelina Jolie as the Cuban-French-Chinese Mariane Pearl, of the use of a curly wig and dark contacts, but race doesn’t much enter into it, once the film gets going. Jolie is generally too intense to play a normal person, which makes her well suited to depict her character’s slow-burning, eventually explosive rage and despair.

Dan Futterman plays Daniel Pearl, mostly in flashbacks. Despite the film being Jolie’s showcase, in the little time he has he shows his character to be the kind of man worth the search he inspires. The film mentions the other deaths in Pakistan as well as the other deaths of journalists in the Middle East. As such, Futterman has a lot to accomplish in his scenes — not only is he playing a real person in a film in which the person’s widow is heavily involved, but he’s also a martyr for journalism. In his scenes, he manages to convey Daniel Pearl’s integrity and gentle spirit, while still making him human.

It’s a complicated story, involving agencies, allegiances, and attempted cooperation between countries and cultures, and Jolie has to anchor it all. The trick with stories like this is how to make a known ending suspenseful, and by detailing the difficulty and infinite intricacies involved in the search, the film does it. It’s dark, almost hopeless, but Jolie’s depiction of Mariane Pearl’s often silent resilience gives the story a feeling of optimism — vital in a film when the worst case scenario is assured.

Bottom line: A fitting tribute

Coming Attractions

June 29
Ratatouille - The new Pixar movie is not designed for the NASCAR set! Hooray! Brad Bird, who was responsible for so much of what made The Incredibles awesome, directs this story of a culinary-minded rat that teams up with an untalented cooking school student.

Sicko - Michael Moore’s newest controversial documentary focuses on the more ridiculous aspects of the American health system. It’ll be interesting to see how he investigates things when his subjects release internal memos warning the employees not to speak to him.

Live Free or Die Hard - This movie is rated PG-13, which makes any yippee-kay-yay action much less likely. Also, it is directed by the same gentleman who plopped the two Underworld movies into unsuspecting theaters. Not promising.

July 3
License to Wed - Robin Williams gets frantic alongside Mandy Moore and The Office’s John Krasinski. Williams, in recent years, makes me want to throw Ritalin at the movie screen. The trailer for this one is no exception.

Transformers - I don’t know if I was born a couple years too late or what, but the idea of a movie about things that turn into other things is not that exciting. I like explosions, I like Armageddon movies, but despite this movie’s pedigree — it’s directed by Michael Bay — I’m just not there.

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