| A Mighty Heart | | Cast : | Dan Futterman, Angelina Jolie, Archie Panjabi, Mohammed Afzal, Mushtaq Khan | | Director : | Michael Winterbottom | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC | | Released Date : | June 22, 2007 | | DVD Released Date : | October 16, 2007 | | Language : | English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | November 28, 2007 | | Summary | Resolve and Hope in the Face of Terror. | Content
 | "A Mighty Heart" is a dramatization of the month of effort to find journalist Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal's South Asia Bureau Chief, after he was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan on January 23, 2002. The film is based on the book of the same name in which Daniel's wife Mariane Pearl recounts her experience of the ordeal. This is largely Mariane's point of view, so we see characters as she perceived them. This is an effective approach to understanding these events and their consequences, made possible by the film's roving, intimate camera, but it is clearly a point of view.
Daniel and Mariane Pearl were journalists in Pakistan during and after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Mariane (Angelina Jolie) was pregnant in January 2002, and, just before the couple planned to leave Pakistan, Daniel (Dan Futterman) arranged a final interview. He thought he was to meet an Islamicist sheik in a Karachi restaurant. Instead he was kidnapped by the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty. When he did not return home, Mariane and fellow journalist Asra Nomani (Archie Panjabi) alerted the American Embassy and the WSJ, who, working with a dedicated Pakistani CID Captain (Javid Habib), tried desperately to find Daniel.
Director Michael Winterbottom's documentary style underscores the reality of the situation as it unfolds but never impedes the drama of Mariane's restrained fear and the race, at once methodical and chaotic, through the back alleys of Karachi to find Daniel's kidnappers. I normally dislike handheld cameras, but most of "A Mighty Heart" takes place in the Pearls' home, where Mariane, Asra, colleagues, American security agent Randall Bennett (Will Patton), and the Captain try to make sense of Daniel's contacts and their labyrinthine connections. This could be dull, but the camera gets us into the middle of it, so we feel their triumphs and setbacks.
Despite the high emotions and gruesome outcome, there is no melodrama. Performances are understated. Angelina Jolie is the powerful center of this film, conveying Mariane's resolve to hold herself together in the face of terror, bureaucracy, and politics. I love the whiteboard on which Mariane and Asra illustrate the connections between all of the parties that may link to Daniel. What starts out as a way to make sense of the situation ultimately reveals a complexity and disorder that is impossible to grasp. Regardless of what one thinks of the Pearls' politics, "A Mighty Heart" is a superb examination of the Muslim world's ideological battles and their human consequences.
The DVD (Paramount 2007): The film is in English and Urdu. To see subtitles for the Urdu, you must turn on the English subtitles, which also subtitles the English. If this bothers you, turn subtitles on and off with your remote. You can view the film with or without a PSA intro, which is about the "Pearl Foundation with Christiane Amanpour" (2 min). I recommend watching the PSA after the film. "A Journey of Passion: The Making of A Mighty Heart" (30 min) interviews cast and director about the primary relationships in the film and Winterbottom's and DP Marcel Zyskind's filming style. "Committee to Protect Journalists" (8 min) talks about the organization that was formed 25 years ago and the increasing peril to journalists today. Subtitles are available for the film in English, French, Spanish. Dubbing available in French, Spanish. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 24, 2007 | | Summary | A Mighty Mess | Content
| Well, we knew the story and how it ended before we hit "play" on the DVD. In my mind I was hoping to gain a better understanding of why he was taken and what was done to find him. This story offers neither. Quite simply its a mess beginning to end. Cconfusing in that you can't understand half of what's said by the Pakistani characters, either because of the their strong accent, or the fact that many of the investigation scenes are non-english with no sub-titles. As another reviewer noted, many scenes do nothing to enhance the story or your understanding of it. Case in point, just after his abduction, the house was full of Pakistanis. An female brusier of an FBI agent comes in and orders everyone out of the house. We're to assume, (I guess) that the calvary has arrived and now we're going to find Mr. Pearle. Well - that was the last we saw of the FBI, and their agent - I still don't know why the scene was included in the movie.
Add to that the complicated names and relationships they draw out on their white board with arrows going everywhere and never any attempt to explain it to us - well, the movie just wears you down.
At the end, they did a epilogue of sorts, explaining what happened to the individuals in the story. Honestly, many of the people they discussed had such little exposure, and you really weren't sure what their involvement was in the case, that you really didn't care. I found it interesting that one person whas sentenced to life for being the actual murderer but I can't say I saw him in during the movie.
Other than this being a vehicle for Jolie to show case her amazing beauty, it was a complete mess as far as I am concerned. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 24, 2007 | | Summary | Give it a Chance! | Content
|
Despite knowing the ultimate outcome in the search for Daniel Pearl, this film manages to create an extraordinary sense of suspense. The intellect and determination of Ms. Pearl is well developed. In fact, I found her overall personality well developed - both intelligent and strong, as well as, vulnerable and flawed. It was not the "perfect hero" syndrome so many films have towards their "real life subject." She is portrayed as a person who is not necessarily "like-able", but absolutely admirable.
The story is captivating, and lends moments of quiet humor with the Wall Street journal editor and staffer focused on Pearl's pregnancy (name lists, concerns about getting her to eat...), it added a sense of humanity to the world of newspaper editors usually portrayed as cut-throat individuals who care about the story and not the individuals invovled.
This is a beautiful film, the locations and scenes are phenomenal. Angelina Jolie (despite moments of missing accent) is an a phenomenal character actress, and I was/am infatuated with her portrayal of Ms. Pearl. This is a deep, intelligent, fascinating film.
I read online somewhere Jolie was disappointed in the evident box office failure of this film, she said (I am paraphrasing) "This is a story that needs to be told and heard" - I could not agree with her more. This is a story that NEEDS to be told and heard. It gives insight to not only the culture of Al Qaeda, but also the interpretations of international actions and behavior. It also clarified information about how they saw a link between the Wall Street Journal and the CIA. I am very glad I own this film, and I plan to watch this movie again.
|
| Rating | | | Date | November 23, 2007 | | Summary | A Mighty Disappointment | Content
| Marianne Pearl's "A Mighty Heart" is the best book I've ever read, a truly poignant account of Marianne's exhaustingly bittersweet yet hopeful experience which resulted in a terrible tragedy. The bravado of her forgiving nature is the pinnacle of her strength in overcoming this horrendous ordeal. I cried reading this book. This deserves a Pulitzer.
Having said that, the movie was nothing like the book. I understand books and films are completely separate story-telling media, but this was shoddy work. It conveyed none of the sense exhibited in the book. In the book, the search for Danny seemed long, unnerving, exhausting and frustrating with disappointing lead after lead; yet everyone remained determined, persevering. The movie does the exact opposite. It makes the experience feel rushed and exasperating as if the clock was running out which was not the case at all. The truth was Danny Pearl was killed within three weeks of his disappearance while Marianne and her team ended up searching for five weeks, realizing later they were being led on a wild goose chase. It was this futility coupled with the confirmation of Danny's death that made Marianne scream in agony. In the movie it was rush, rush, rush, rush, oh no he's dead, scream, it's over. Piss poor.
The movie should have run over 2 hours. They had the time. There was no point in cramming all those elements into 1 hour and 42 minutes. While the character of the maid and her little daughter was mentioned in the book, they really weren't that significant to the story. The movie could have used those extra ten minutes for more essential elements. Also, flashbacks were haphazardly sandwiched any which way in the scenes so it was hard to tell if you were viewing the past or present.
No, folks. If you're interested in the Marianne Pearl's story, you're much better off reading the book. You won't be disappointed there. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 18, 2007 | | Summary | Choppy, Boring & Poorly Acted | Content
| This movie had terrible editing. It was so choppy you don't know what is going on. The acting is awful. It was hard to follow with all the bizarre character names. There are too many scenes that do nothing to enhance the story.
The sound quality is so low I had to keep rewinding and turning volume up to hear it.
The movie was so bad I couldn't finish it. |
|
|
|
|
