Mighty Heart, A

Synopsis: Based on the memoir of Mariane Pearl, describes the search for her husband after his kidnapping in Karachi while he was researching a story in the aftermath of 9/11 and the Afghanistan war.

As with most 'true stories' based on books, A Mighty Heart is both more and less than its originary text. It draws you into the gripping celluloid narrative with its inevitable hint of glamour but it also leaves you wondering what has been left untold.

The first story, the one told on the big screen, is almost totally engaging. The camera hangs close as Winterbottom follows the storm of people and activity that surrounds Mariane (Angelina Jolie) in the wake of the disappearance of her husband Daniel (Dan Futterman) after leaving their house in Karachi one night to interview an elusive sheik. American security men led by Bennett (Will Patton), and Pakistani police and counter-terrorism officers led by the inscrutable but compassionate Captain (Irfan Khan) rush chaotically into Mariane's life and become an intimate part of it in the following weeks. The organic frenzy of life in Karachi is skilfullt captured in the rapid cuts between Mariane's present and past and the swarming city that surrounds her.

The film confronts our prejudices and preconceptions. Jolie is not in 'star' mode, but gives a powerfully restrained and honest performance amid the terrific multinational ensemble cast. Initial impressions of the Pakistani's as bumblers are slowly turned on their head as they manage to extract information from the morass of Karachi's underlife by any means necessary. The slight sense of futility in the carefully crafted suspense, given most viewers will know the outcome of Pearl's disappearance, doesn't overcome the emotional punch at the final moment of truth.

The second story, less well told, is the full story of Mariane's book 'A Mighty Heart - the Brave Life and Death of My Husband'. The brave life of Daniel is hidden behind his likeable if slightly bland presence in the film, revealed mostly through flashbacks that show he was a both good and ordinary man. The brave death, and its aftermath and influence on the ructions in the region, are almost entirely absent. One of the principal people in this story, Asra Nomani, wrote in the Washington Post 'what happened to the real Danny? He has a cameo in his own death story.' It's said that a remarkable part of Mariane's book is the account of the month's following her husband's death and her efforts to make it count. Again, this part of the story is absent.

Winterbottom's film does give us a strong sense of Mariane's extraordinary fortitude and commitment not to yield to anger and violence. In her first interview after the death she is shown reminding the world that terrorism is everywhere in the world that misery is, that her husband was only one of ten deaths by terrorism in Pakistan since the war and the nine others were Pakistani citizens whose families were also grieving. It is this mighty heart that drives the people around here to fight harder but to forgive more. Even if what we see is only part of the true story, A Mighty Heart is a taut, sustained drama with provocative political undertones and cultural insight. It is both interesting to watch as a companion to Winterbottom's 2006 drama/documentary The Road to Guantanamo and well-worth seeing in its own right.

 

 

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