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AWARDS PROFILE: "A MIGHTY HEART"

Can Angelina Jolie, the actress, beat Angelina Jolie, the celebrity, on her race to the Oscar?

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By Tom Houseman

In 1999, Angelina Jolie gave a career defining performance as a mental patient in Girl, Interrupted. She won an Oscar for her work, and established what promised to be a career as both a sex symbol and a respected actress. Unfortunately, since then, that second title has not applied to her. Her follow-up to Girl, Interrupted was the Nicholas Cage action flick Gone in 60 Seconds, and was a harbinger of what was to come. Most of Jolie’s high profile roles have been in action films, most notably the Lara Croft films and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Her only attempts at serious work have failed to garner her any positive attention, with her two most notable efforts being Alexander, which bombed and received a critical thrashing, and The Good Shepherd, which was buzzed early in awards season as a potential hit, but failed to capitalize, receiving only an Art Direction nomination.

But now Jolie has finally found a project that could once again put her on the fast track to Oscar gold. Unsurprisingly, it is a biopic, but it is certainly bears few similarities to Oscar successes like Walk the Line and Ray, and may be more in line with last year’s 9/11 film United 93. The film is A Mighty Heart, based on the memoir of Marianne Pearl, focusing on her experiences when her husband, Daniel Pearl (Dan Futterman), was kidnapped and held hostage by Militant Pakistanis. The film is directed by Michael Winterbottom, best known for the documentary The Road to Guantanamo, which featured lots of dramatic reenactment. Now, Winterbottom is going in the other direction, creating a narrative in the form of a docudrama. The screenwriter is John Orloff, whose only professional experience is co-writing the Steven Spielberg World War II miniseries Band of Brothers.

Any actress who has won an Oscar and is starring as a real person is bound to be buzzed early in the season, and Jolie is no exception. She has been pointed to as one of the Best Actress favorites by numerous sources. The difference with A Mighty Heart is that, because it has such an early release date, it needs to receive critical acclaim in order to survive the next six months of Oscar buzzing. Reviews are already coming in and so far, and in particular Jolie’s performance, have been glowing. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone notes Winterbottom’s superb direction, saying that he “exerts a grip that won’t let go,” but his real raves are for Jolie. “The film belongs to Jolie,” says Travers, adding that “this is by far her best performance.” Other critics reiterate this sentiment, with Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter calling Jolie’s performance “well-measured and moving,” and Justin Chang of Variety praising Jolie’s “carefully-considered portrait.” If the bulk of the reviews due June 22 continue to be this positive, then Jolie is sure to be a frontrunner for Best Actress for the rest of the year.

But with several factors working against A Mighty Heart and Jolie, nothing is set in stone. The film’s early release may play against it, because while some films can overcome their early releases, A Mighty Heart will need to work hard to stay in the Academy’s memory until ballots go out in December. Also, docudramas tend to do poorly at the Oscars, with only United 93 having any recent success. Whether United 93 is the exception to the rule or a mark in a changing trend will be seen by what happens to A Mighty Heart.

There could also be a bias against Jolie that might influence her chances at the Oscars. Since winning her Oscar, Jolie has been known far more as a pop icon and sex symbol than as an actress. Actresses are usually awarded for incredible physical transformations, as proven by the Oscars for Nicole Kidman in The Hours and Charlize Theron in Monster. However, Jolie’s transformation might have gone too far for the Academy. Marianne Pearl is of Afro-Cuban and Dutch descent, and her skin is significantly darker than Jolie’s, so Jolie wore a considerable amount of makeup to play the role of Pearl. Will the Academy be put off by what could be considered a very thorough form of blackface?

While it remains to be seen how the Academy will react to Jolie’s performance and to A Mighty Heart, the critics have so far embraced them, and if audiences do the same, then it is highly likely that, come the announcement of the nominees, Jolie’s name will be read. But that event is still many months away, and for now, Jolie is leading a race that is very foggy and unclear, and could take home her second Academy Award.

Is A Mighty Heart a mighty contender, share your thoughts here!
 

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