In A Mighty Heart, Angelina Jolie portrays French journalist Marianne Pearl and in the process puts on a great performance after years of coasting on her fame. The film is based on the true story of Marianne and her husband Daniel Pearl (Dan Futterman), the South Asia Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped by extremists with links to Al Qaeda and was subsequently beheaded.
At its core, A Mighty Heart is a reality based conspiracy thriller. Through various investigations, a number of unsavoury characters, shady sources and corrupt officials are arrested and interrogated in regards to Pearl's whereabouts, as a heavily pregnant Marianne impatiently awaits new information, as her journalist friends set up shop in the dining room, scouring the internet for clues while relying on their mobiles as their main source of communication.
As Pearl, Jolie delivers a great performance. An actress with unparalleled fame and media presence, Jolie is able to convince that she is Pearl and not just a popular figure in (light) black face. She portrays Pearl's strength, spirituality, and frustrations extremely well, and raises the bar in on screen breakdowns in a powerful scene.
Archie Panjabi - who played a similar role in Constant Gardener - is good if not a little condescending as Indian journalist Asra Q. Nomani, and Indian actor Irfan Khan is great as a no-nonsense police captain.
In a cast of characters from various countries and cultures, the Americans (with the exception of Daniel Pearl) come off as an irritating bunch prone to melodramatic tendencies, with journalists John Bussey (Denis O'Hare) and John Skelton (Demetri Goritsas) taking the prize in the drama queen awards. An FBI agent played by Jillian Armenante bullies the local law enforcement whom she considers suspect.
Both Daniel and Marianne were living in Pakistan at the time, covering the war in neighbouring Afghanistan. To add realism to this, the film was shot in location in India and Pakistan, capturing the chaotic environment of those countries. This includes the anti-American sentiments felt post 9/11, and the anti-Semitic sentiments felt by many in the substantially Muslim country, both factors which did not bode will for Daniel Pearl who was an American Jew.
The film makes numerous references to Guantanamo Bay and the mistreatment of prisoners in the U.S. run facility (director Michael Winterbottom co-directed Road to Guantanamo), and also looks at the intense media presence which surrounded Pearl's kidnapping.
Winterbottom has implemented a documentary feel to the movie. Shot with digital film, there is a slight shake to the camera which creates a fly on the wall perspective to these events. However, this is quickly marred by an over abundance of unceasing quick cuts by editor Peter Christelis, the movie feeling more like a colossal slide show than a realistic portrait of a tragic situation. Restraint was definitely needed in this area. Also, the subtitles are extremely small, which is frustrating considering that half of the film's dialogue is in Arabic.
As a whole, A Mighty Heart is a very good film impaired by several easily fixable elements. The main draw here is Angelina Jolie, who does not disappoint. Hopefully she will continue to do more quality character work such as this.