Movie Review: A Mighty Heart

I went to see A Mighty Heart today because I wanted to be convinced that Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl would work. It didn’t. Not for me.

If I could describe this movie as a food, it would be chop suey. It's a mixed-up mess of events. I could follow much of the police action because I’ve read the book, seen the many interviews, and watched a CNN special that traced all the known events and people behind Pearl’s kidnapping. The average person does not really care about the Muslims, the terrorists, and the city that filled most of the scenes. What they came to see - a personal drama about two extraordinary married journalists - is missing. This movie is not about love, or family. Sorry folks. It's about Angelina.

Director Michael Winterbottom makes Karachi, Pakistan the star of the film and forgets all about building up some emotion and good will for the couple the movie is supposed to be about. I would have completely reversed the order of the movie and made the end the beginning, and then continued from there. I was sorely disappointed that the wedding scene and the little bit of life in Paris was relegated to the very end of the film. This was a huge miscalculation on the director or the editor’s part.

Why? Because here would have been the place where something could have been inserted about Daniel Pearl, a man from a family with deep Israeli roots — scenes and sentiments that would make him a real person who once lived, loved, and later died a horrible death, publicly. It would have also brought Mariane to life. Here is a woman who has a deep-seated Buddhist faith and is from a multi-racial, multi-ethnic background.

Less city, more people. Most of the film’s action takes place in the house, and the city of Karachi. Mariane, in the film and in life, clung to her faith when the Muslims around her stopped for one of their five daily prayer times — she would go to her Buddhist altar and repeat her mantra. Through my boredom, I finally got a good sense of this movie. It was during one of the many moments when the cast was sitting around the table in the rented house. I realized suddenly that this is a movie about some well-meaning foreigners having Angelina over for dinner, night after night. She's the guest in this movie! She is never integrated — only a megawatt star with magic and Meryl Streep caliber could have convincingly cooked and served up the Cuban-style dishes.

Article Author: Heloise

Author, writer, teacher, blogger, keeps a blog The Trough where she writes. She combines spirituality and politics as no other. She is a native of Chicago, who prefers walking as exercise. The author has a B.S., biology and M.A., anthropology, certified science and french teacher.
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