The story of the kidnapping and eventual murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was so powerful that it captivated an international audience for weeks of media coverage. The question is, can the movie based on the horrifying story, "A Mighty Heart" garner the same kind of attention? If you are looking for a depiction of these chilling events from the perspective of Daniel Pearl, played by Dan Futterman, or a director's best guess as to what happened to him from the moment he was kidnapped up until his death, you are looking in the wrong place.
"A Mighty Heart" is told through the eyes of Daniel's pregnant wife, Mariane Pearl, played by Angelina Jolie and the cast of characters made up of police, journalists and family friends who helped her search for him. "A Mighty Heart" places the viewer right in the center of the investigation and follows the search team as they track down leads, and find clues that slowly unravel the mystery behind Pearl's abduction. In fact, Daniel's appearances in the movie are few, and his character is disappointingly underdeveloped for a story adapted from a book meant to honor his life.
Despite the inadequate use of the story's most compelling character, director Michael Winterbottom ("Welcome to Sarajevo") starts the movie strongly by vividly portraying the story's absolutely chaotic setting in the streets of Karachi, Pakistan. These opening shots help explain how easy it would be to make someone disappear in an environment that makes New York City look tame. These stunning shots of Pakistan remind us of the extreme cultural differences between the Middle Eastern world and our own that in part created the kind of hatred that led to Pearl's death.
Although the moviegoer already knows the tragic ending to this story before it happens onscreen, Winterbottom still manages to make the search efforts of Mariane and her colleagues thoroughly interesting. Some of the best moments in the movie are when Mariane and her team of investigators, including family friend The story of the kidnapping and eventual murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was so powerful that it captivated an international audience for weeks of media coverage.
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