Daniel Pearl was, of course, the foreign correspondent for the "Wall Street Journal" who was kidnapped and brutally executed by a group of Muslim jihadists whom he had sought out for an interview in early 2002. His wife, Marianne, also a journalist and pregnant with their child at the time, later went on to publish a chronicle of that event, appropriately entitled "A Mighty Heart."
Adapted by John Orloff and starring Angelina Jolie and Dan Futterman in the principal roles, the movie of the same name chronicles the efforts of Marianne and those around her to uncover her husband's whereabouts and to try to rescue him before the terrorists have the chance to make good on their threat to liquidate him, if their demands - for improved conditions for the prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay - are not met. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, the movie does a solid job recreating the step-by-step process by which those working on the case were able to identify, and even apprehend, some of the captors. But so intent is the movie on exploring every last detail of the search that the characters themselves tend to fall by the wayside at times. This includes Marianne who, beautifully as Jolie embodies her, often winds up being shunted off to the side when she should be taking center stage and making us care deeply about her and the plight she is facing. The format of the story is such that we are given only brief glimpses of Marianne and Daniel together and, in each case, they are invariably shown as deliriously happy and passionately in love, which no doubt they were, but it doesn't allow for much shading or depth in the relationship.
The movie is, of course, heartbreaking in its final scenes, as the story works its way to its foreordained tragic conclusion and Marianne is left to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Yet, the extraordinary courage that both Daniel and Marianne display in being willing to put their own lives at risk in confronting the injustices of the world leaves the audience with a feeling of hope for the future.
Thus, despite its weaknesses of characterization and drama, "A Mighty Heart" still manages to move us in the end.
Adapted by John Orloff and starring Angelina Jolie and Dan Futterman in the principal roles, the movie of the same name chronicles the efforts of Marianne and those around her to uncover her husband's whereabouts and to try to rescue him before the terrorists have the chance to make good on their threat to liquidate him, if their demands - for improved conditions for the prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay - are not met. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, the movie does a solid job recreating the step-by-step process by which those working on the case were able to identify, and even apprehend, some of the captors. But so intent is the movie on exploring every last detail of the search that the characters themselves tend to fall by the wayside at times. This includes Marianne who, beautifully as Jolie embodies her, often winds up being shunted off to the side when she should be taking center stage and making us care deeply about her and the plight she is facing. The format of the story is such that we are given only brief glimpses of Marianne and Daniel together and, in each case, they are invariably shown as deliriously happy and passionately in love, which no doubt they were, but it doesn't allow for much shading or depth in the relationship.
The movie is, of course, heartbreaking in its final scenes, as the story works its way to its foreordained tragic conclusion and Marianne is left to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Yet, the extraordinary courage that both Daniel and Marianne display in being willing to put their own lives at risk in confronting the injustices of the world leaves the audience with a feeling of hope for the future.
Thus, despite its weaknesses of characterization and drama, "A Mighty Heart" still manages to move us in the end.