A Mighty Heart (2007)

In the aftermath of 9/11, the compelling story of reporter Daniel Pearl, and his wife, Mariane Pearl, also a journalist, caught the nation's attention as he was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan as a victim in the "war on terror." He was investigating the "shoe bomber," Richard Reid. It is a most unfortunate, and unthinkable tragedy, when a journalist, who is a bystander trying to report the news, becomes the news itself. This is the story that became the basis of the film, A Mighty Heart.

For those of us that lived through 9/11, especially close to NYC, and were personally affected by 9/11, and knew individuals who were so violently killed, up until now, I really had no interest in Hollywood's attempt to capture it on film. I have not watched United 93, or World Trade Center. I'm not sure if it is that enough time has passed that I wanted to watch this film, or I generally like Angelina Jolie's work, but I decided to watch A Mighty Heart.

In this film, Jolie plays Mariane Pearl. Her husband Daniel is played by Dan Futterman. They both turned in strong performances Needless to say, it's always a challenge to script a film that everyone knows the ending before we even start.

In the end, I really didn't enjoy this film. I didn't expect to, as I expected it to be hard to watch. However, 9/11 and the story aside, it's just not that compelling a story as it's told. Sure, the strength of Mariane comes through, but the film is just a drag and a downer. It doesn't help that too much of it is in Pakistani. Also, while we needed a few shots of the Karachi area to set the place, it seemed that every five minutes we were getting more images of the daily Karachi rush hour, and hardly compelling film making. Also, I'm not sure if there ever was a conclusion other than that the American diplomats didn't do nearly enough to find Daniel, and secure his release.

For all of the above, I'm recommending that A Mighty Heart is a Mighty Skip.

Overall Grade: C-

Reviewed by Jonas