Michael Winterbottom: A Mighty Heart (Un coeur invaincu)

A Mighty Heart
Category: Historical and political movie

"We are at Karachi, a sprawling and chaotic city where no one knows how to count people. Then how to find a man? "

January 23, 2002, Pakistan. Daniel Pearl, an American journalist kidnapped a few weeks earlier, was beheaded by his captors, Islamic extremists. The video of his execution has shocked international public opinion. What could drive this American journalist in this appalling and fatal place? Daniel's investigation on the trail of terrorist Richard Reid, who took him to the heart of Islamist terror networks and its removal. Marianne Pearl’s original investigation was to find her kidnapped husband. Aided by his friends, journalists, and the Pakistani spy-cons, Marianne Pearl, widow of Daniel, tells the story of those few weeks she stayed there……
"- I'm supposed to meet Sheik tonight. What do you think?
   - As long as you stay in a public place, you should be fine. But be very careful. "

A few months after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Daniel Pearl, a journalist who was murdered by the extreme territorist, which greatly shocked the international community. In directing his experience and making up a movie, it is not easy to put such a subject in film objectively and without inflaming the hatred of one or the other. The adaptation of the book by Marianne Pearl, more journalistic than fictionalized story, had the double benefit of delving into the mysteries of the double investigation (on the abduction of Daniel Pearl, and the reality of fundamentalist circles in Pakistan), while by providing a fairly objective tone on the facts.


At the helm of this delicate project, Michael Winterbottom, a jack-of-all-prolific director, who was famous both in comedy ("A Cock and Bull English" - 2006), as well as in porn rock ' n'roll ("9 Songs" - 2005). It was not surprising to see him back such a project, given the strong interest in political issues and human world that he has demonstrated in the past, both in "Welcome to Sarajevo" (1998), "In This World" (2003), and his recent "Road to Guantanamo" (2006), which has been shown out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

"He smiled. He has a gun on his head and smiled. It lets me know that everything is fine "

This is a subject that could surprise its audiences, or even somewhat discouraged us given to the murky and violent aspect of the story. Indeed, the journalist, who represented the values of freedom of expression and universalism, was kidnapped and murdered. "A Mighty heart" is not only a successful movie, but it belongs to this category of films that leave no one indifferent. Based on a smart script, describing the abduction and some stories through the eyes of Marianne Pearl, we can only emphasize the relevance of the bias to present the facts in journalism, thus avoiding overflow of sentimentality and favoring instead by modesty, some form of dignity.


More than anything, which is impressive in this film is that it gets caught in the game thriller, while we know from the outset the tragic outcome. The relative slowness of the whole, the immersion in this camera stifling allows Winterbottom to place the viewer in the center of this drama. So, as surprising as it may seem, we let ourselves go with the hope that give rise to such discoveries, and the final race against the clock, conducted with great nervousness (mounting jerky, fast rhythm), especially during successive arrests, develops a real fear.  

"- If you could say something to your husband?
   - I love you "

Upon completion, Michael Winterbottom has mastered his subject. His work on the atmosphere, with some emphasis on images of crowded cities, teeming, dirty and reinforces a feeling of suffocation, anxiety, and hostility. Similarly, his mastery of rhythm, which is initially very slow, to better position the viewer in a position of privileged witness in the center of the action. His actors are perhaps the weakest point of his achievement. Angelina Jolie delivers a performance a bit too bland and too cold, making her nervous breakdown, when she was told of the death of her husband. Beside her, the unknown Dan Fitterman seems too little, but one is struck by the physical resemblance of the latter with Daniel Pearl (Angelina Jolie looks so pretty also to Marianne Pearl). In supporting roles, we will highlight the good performance of Archie Panjabi, Dennis O'Hare and especially Irfan Khan.

"You can be old, fat or ugly. But never lose your smile. "

At the end of "A Mighty Heart," despite the sensitivity of its subject, Winterbottom achieves effective thriller (though sadly familiar in the end) and an interesting film, which not only reflected on the work of journalists, but also asked us to ask what did humanity mean to us. Despite the apparent simplicity and journalistic neutrality of the screenplay, Winterbottom still here denounces religious fundamentalism, and the responsibility of local authorities in Pakistan, in this case playing a double game with western journalism. It was a regret that the husband of Marianne Pearl was killed in the movie. However, the coldness of the interpretation and neutrality in writing the character prevents any empathy, which helped us to appreciate this movie and asked us to reflect the values of freedom and humanity.