MOVIE REVIEW

MOVIE / MUSIC

A Mighty Heart

Based on the book A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl by Mariane Pearl, director Michael Winterbottom took on the task of making a perfect script to screen political docudrama of American Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Winterbottom gets you totally engrossed in the situation keeping tensions high to a nail-biting end.

The series of events that occurred in January 2002 still seem fresh in mind. Most of the film is set in the home of Daniel's friend/colleague Asra Nomani (Bend It Like Beckham's Archie Panjabi), which becomes the headquarters for the investigation. Daniel (Dan Futterman) lives with his pregnant wife Mariane (Angelina Jolie), herself a freelance journalist for French radio and television, who travelled to Karachi in pursuit of the truth - investigating a possible tie between "shoe bomber" Richard Reid and Sheikh Gilani, a Pakistani cleric who dabbled with radical Islamic groups in the past. The film documents Mariane's account of the last five weeks leading up to her husband's death, interspersed with flashbacks of their life together. While working on his project Daniel is kidnapped and taken hostage by a group called the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty. Weeks pass with no positive outcome. The investigation is slow and tedious. Mariane expresses frustration with the investigation, even though the US Embassy and a team of Pakistani counter-terrorism officers led with devotion by Captain Javed Habib (Irrfan Khan of The Namesake and Slumdog Millionnaire fame), are working around the clock. Mariane's pain of her missing husband is visible in every frame of the film.

When Mariane hears the news of her husband being beheaded, which is the climax of the film, you are moved to wonder how such a dastardly act can ever take place. Daniel was brutally murdered by jihadists who only saw an opportunity to seize a respected journalist and torture him until the U.S. government caved in to their outlandish demands, which of course never happened.

Angelina gives a splendid performance as Mariane Pearl, casting away her usual attention-grabbing antics and instead putting on a powerful and captivating role in a French/Cuban accent.

Winterbottom tries his best to recreate the sequence of events, moving to actual locations in Karachi and Mumbai too. With extras like the Making Of The Film, A Mighty Heart is worth a watch - a reminder of just how valuable human life really is.

— Verus Ferreira

Reliance BIG Home Video, Rs 499/-