A Mighty Heart is the moving true tale of Mariane Pearl's search for her husband Danny after he is kidnapped by terrorists.
Danny (Daniel Futterman) and 5-month pregnant Mariane Pearl (Angelina Jolie) are staying at Indian journalist Asra Nomani's (Archie Panjabi) house in Pakistan. Danny is an American journalist reporting on fundamentalists in Karachi and plans to interview a notorious jihadist. His associates advise caution and that he meet in a public place. He proceeds to set off for the interview.
Meanwhile, Mariane becomes increasingly worried when Danny is late arriving back from his interview. As the hours stretch into days, it becomes clear that Danny has been kidnapped.
Asra's department becomes the nerve centre of the search for Danny. Aiding Mariane are a driven Pakistani policeman (Irfan Kahn), a gung-ho American agent (Will Patton) and Danny's boss at the Washington Post (Denis O'Hare).
It's telling that despite the inevitable outcome, the investigation is still suspenseful.
The most flattering thing to say about Jolie's performance is that for the most part, you forget that it's her.
She underplays her megawatt charisma and channels it into a measured performance. She's mesmerising as she plays Mariane with a dignified calm, even in the face of potentially overwhelming tragedy. Her accent is excellent, replete with mispronunciations and stumbling.
Kahn is riveting as the police captain. His tenacity and drive is compelling viewing.
A Mighty Heart nimbly avoids political grandstanding. It's structured as a doccie-styled thriller, but never strays too far from its emotional core. It's a morally flexible story that is boiled down to its bare elements and is all the stronger for it.
Hopefully, filmgoers will put aside their expectations of lukewarm, American patriotic pedagogy and go see this truly beautiful film.
8/10
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