A Mighty Heart

A Mighty Heart and a Mighty Performance by Angelina Jolie

A Mighty Heart tells the story of Mariane Pearl, a French born freelance journalist. Mrs. Pearl made headlines in 2002 when her late husband, Daniel, was kidnapped and murdered while in Pakistan. In the film version of A Mighty Heart Mariane is portrayed by Angelina Jolie. Now, some people were upset by the choice of Angelina Jolie to play Mariane Pearl since Mrs. Pearl is a woman of color (she is the daughter of an Afro-Cuban-Chinese mother and a Dutch father).

While it is tragic that Hollywood seems incapable of casting true racial actors and actresses to roles best suited for them, this review is not the place to make blanket statements on how damaging it is for white people to play non white roles.

What must be focused on is the skill to which Angelina Jolie handles this role. While the film is indeed ponderous and slow moving, it is impossible not to be moved by it. It is equally impossible to escape from being shaken to the core by Angelina Jolie and her performance.

Angelina Jolie plays Mariane Pearl with both strength and anguish. Knowing the outcome of the situation makes the situation that much more unbearable. Words cannot express the admiration one should feel for the real life Mariane Pearl. What this woman endured is beyond comprehension.

When Angelina Jolie shines the most is when she, as Mariane, receives word of Daniel's fate. The reaction is so raw, so real, if you are not moved by it in some way then you need to seriously evaluate your humanity. To add to the tragedy, Mariane was five to six months pregnant during the entire ordeal. Mrs. Pearl was left to raise a child alone before he ever even born.

A Mighty Tragedy in a Country Full of Strife

Daniel Pearl had no idea what he was walking into. Someone in Pakistan had found out that he was a Jewish man. Once you factored in his employer, The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Pearl's fate was all but sealed. Now, before you decry this review as generalizing, try to focus and remember the sad reality of the country of Pakistan.

Pakistan is a country teeming with impoverished people who are constantly told how the Jews, Americans, Israel, and their own government consipre to keep them in their place. Not all Pakistanis listen to such a message, but enough do to cause a deep and complex tension that cannot ever be explored in under a thousand words.

A Mighty Heart makes it clear that Jews are used as scapegoats by terrorist cells in Pakistan. These groups claim that Jews entering the country are agents of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. These jihadist and wahhabist groups also accuse American journalists of being CIA spies as well. When you couple these two charged accusations onto one man, you wind up having to make a tear-inducing film about his fate several years later.

It is impossible to explain the emotional impact that this film should have on Jews over non Jews. Daniel Pearl may have been spared were he not a Jew. The deep and disgusting hatred that courses through the blood of jihadists, Islamists, Wahhabists, and other practioners of a cold and calculated interpration of the words of Mohammed completely changed the life of Mariane Pearl, a woman born of a Jewish father and widow of a Jewish man.

To watch this film as a Jew is a completely different experience. It is more emotional, more angering, and more disturbing. To explain it further is impossible as no non-Jew can ever truly understand the hatred levied against the Jewish people over the milennia. Non-Jews will be moved by this film for different reasons. At least, that is the assumption of the author of this review. Hopefully the axiom regarding assumptions does not hold true this time.

Watch This Film, Dry Your Tears, Life Your Life

The death of Daniel Pearl is a tragedy. However, the greater tragedy is the thousands upon thousands of deaths in the world that don't get made into a major motion picture. Daniel Pearl was but one man. He was steadfast, determined, and most assuredly a good husband and a good reporter (though the film fails to explore these beliefs). Daniel soldiered on, not expecting the evil that befell him. He merely wanted to get the story. Daniel's death and the results of it are not more important or less important than other deaths.

The murder of Daniel Pearl and the resolve of his widow serve as a means of illuminating the darkness of the human condition and showing us the worst we can do so that we can try do to better as difficult as it may be.

Through the resolve of Mariane Pearl, one should draw strength in their own lives. If this woman could endure, then you can endure as well.

A Mighty Heart is a ponderous, slow, and not exactly exciting film. A Mighty Heart also really fails to let the audience really know Daniel Pearl and who he truly was as a man. A point covered by his former colleague in the Washington Post. This is a shame but the focus for the film was always on Mariane and her endurance.

However, A Mighty Heart is deep, complicated, and well acted by all involved and told with bravado and heart. It is highly recommended that you find a way to watch this film. Soak it in, then live your life because the zest for life and peace is the only true weapon reasonable minded people have against those that wish to divide and destroy the world with religious based violence.

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