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"A MIGHTY HEART" (R)
Angelina Jolie is
Oscar-worthy in "A Mighty Heart"
By Lee Hernandez
In her best performance since "Girl
Interrupted," Angelina Jolie channels Marianne Pearl, the journalist wife
of Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel "Danny" Pearl, who was kidnapped
and beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. Hollywood's answer to
Pearl's personal memoir, the aptly titled: "A Mighty Heart: The Brave
Life and Death of my husband Danny Pearl," the film chronicles Danny's
disappearance; the collaborative effort to find him, and his eventual
murder. Because it is an adaptation of Marianne's memoir, the film treads
the same narrative ground as its source material.
Directed by Michael Winterbottom, this is a largely fact based,
play-for-play telling of the events that unfolded in Pakistan while
Danny (the South-Asia Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal) was
there researching a story on shoe bomber, Richard Reid, accompanied by
Marianne, (who was 6 months pregnant at the time). Produced by Brad Pitt,
(Angelina's husband), Pitt says his interest in the book was inspired by
Marianne's tremendous courage. The same can be said about the film which
portrays Marianne as a woman who handles a crisis with self-respect, and
remarkable courage.
The opening scene shows us a brief, but intimate moment between Marianne
and Danny in their Pakistan home. The next scene has Daniel boarding a
taxi-cab, right after telling Marianne, "I might be home late for dinner
tonight." The cab-ride lands Danny at a restaurant where he is to meet
some men who have information he needs for a story. When he leaves the
restaurant, he boards a second taxi-cab that takes him to his eventual
captors. It is the following morning that Mariane awakens alone in her
bed and realizes Danny didn't come home the night before. Immediately
concerned, she informs her friends and Danny's parents that he is
missing. When she is later informed that Danny has been kidnapped, what
ensues is a full-scale team-effort to locate and save him from his
captors. Among the detectives searching for answers are, a Pakistani
anti-terrorist police squad lead by a man named Captain (Irfan Khan),
U.S. State Department personnel led by Randall Bennett (Will Patton),
Marianne Pearl & fellow journalist and confidante, Asra Q. Nomani (Archie
Panjabi) and other reporters from the Wall Street Journal.
The terribly qualified rescue-team works together to find clues and
leads, and to interrogate and jail those involved in the kidnapping. As
an audience, knowing the end result of the story (that Danny is in fact
killed by the terrorists), something has to keep us engaged in this
story. That something is Marianne's hope and confidence that Danny will
return safely to her and it is due to Angelina Jolie's astonishing
performance that we are able to experience these sentiments. Reserved,
but heartbreaking, Jolie's quiet reflection doesn't stop being moving
for a second. Her undesired estrangement from her loving husband is
evident in her eyes, which evoke a profound feeling of loss and pain.
What's even more remarkable about Jolie's performance is that sadness is
not something this character exhibits or displays openly. She's guarded
and restrained, so much so that her optimistic answers during a CNN
interview prompt her friend Asra to remark, "You wouldn't know her
husband has been missing for 6 days." Therefore, it is up to Jolie to
convey both Mariane's. On the one hand, she has to portray a character
whose wish it is to appear calm, and unaffected and strong, and the
other, she must convey her character's quiet, private suffering. Jolie
succeeds on both counts.
But as much as this is a character portrait of Marianne Pearl and her
courage, it is also a film in the tradition of the police procedural. In
fact, the procedural scenes concerning the investigation to find Daniel
dominate a good 95% of the narrative, and these scenes are sufficiently
engaging, much ado to the pensive and smart performances of the large
cast. The remaining 5% of the film's scenes are intended to give us some
insight into Marianne and Daniel's unique bond. We see Daniel and
Marianne
sharing a moment when the film begins and the remaining moments occur in
flashback as Marianne ponders her life with her husband and remembers the
last time that she saw him. Unfortunately, there are not enough of these
scenes, and even worse, those that exist in the film are ineffective in
helping us understand anything specific about the couple's relationship.
The problem lies in John Orloff's (the screenwriter's) dialogue, which
fails to make their time together interesting or detailed, preferring
instead to have the couple utter common expressions like, "I love you,"
and "you're beautiful," (things we already know about their relationship
just from watching their body language on film).
The only weak performance in the film is given by Will Patton, who plays
a U.S. official whose purpose in the ongoing investigation is not made
entirely clear and whose presence in the film seems altogether
unnecessary. Other than Patton, the rest of the cast shines. Irfan Khan
& Archie Panjabi, in particular, offer great supporting work and has
great chemistry with Jolie. As for Jolie, whether she earns an Oscar
nomination for her portrayal of Marianne Pearl is unimportant (although I
think she deserves one). The politics of awards shows have proven that
they can choose not to reward someone with nominations and awards for a
variety of reasons). What is important and what everyone who sees this
film will discover, is that Angelina Jolie has delivered her most
compelling and memorable performance since her portrayal of Sociopath
Lisa Rowe in "Girl, Interrupted," proving she is no one-hit wonder.
***/**** |
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