A MIGHTY HEART [R]
Once in a great while, a film comes along that cuts to the very core of its viewers, and Michael Winterbottom’s harrowing drama recounting the tragedy of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and the events surrounding his death in Pakistan in 2002 is one such film. Expertly portrayed in the up-close-and-personal vérité style that Paul Greengrass used so effectively in 2006’s United 93, this film is told from the perspective of Pearl’s wife Mariane, played by an affectingly emotional Angelina Jolie. Winterbottom again displays his mastery of the dramatic retelling as the audience — the majority of whom are already aware of the ending — will find themselves hoping against all hope that this version of the story will have a happy ending. The strength of the film lies in its ability to weave a tale of grief and loss and to do so objectively. The authenticity of the film is startling and the terror it occasionally inspires genuine, but no fingers are pointed and no political undertones surface. When the inevitable does occur, there is a scene in which Jolie is wracked with grief – and it is one of the more visceral and heartbreaking scenes captured on film in recent memory. Mariane Pearl once said that Daniel Pearl was in constant pursuit of truth, and Winterbottom’s film is an honest and fitting tribute to that undying spirit. –Gregory Johnson