An anatomy of faith and 'Heart'

Based on the memoir of his widow, Mariane Pearl, the stunning 'A Mighty Heart' revolves around the 2002 kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

from the June 22, 2007 edition

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Interviewed on television, Mariane is asked what message she would like to send Danny and without hesitation, she says, "I love you." The romance between them is among the most quietly believable depictions of ardor that I have ever seen in a movie. Before he is kidnapped, we see Danny fooling with his very pregnant wife, or talking shop with dinner friends, and we recognize immediately the emotional honesty that is the armature of their love. Honesty is also at the heart of their passion for reporting. (Although it presents obvious dangers in his line of work, Danny is always forthcoming about being Jewish.)

The Pearls' shared devotion to the cause of journalistic truth is what sets this movie apart from so many other movies about reporters in war zones, even great ones, like "Under Fire." Is it more dangerous now to be a reporter than at any other time in history? Probably not, and it would be another form of romanticism to think so, but it may seem like the stakes are higher now, and the methods of subterfuge ever more Byzantine.

The search for Danny in "A Mighty Heart" is accomplished mostly through high-tech skullduggery, and it leads to the inescapable conclusion that, as individuals, our survival or obliteration is dependant on how wired we are into the world.

With her belly protruding and her hair piled high, Jolie completely absorbs herself in the role. Raised in France and of Afro-Cuban and Dutch descent, Mariane is worldly in the best sense – she gains sustenance from the differentness of her life experiences.

"A Mighty Heart" puts great store in Mariane's spiritual composure, and this is the only part of the movie that seems insufficient to me. Her yowls of rage and disbelief when she hears the news of Danny's execution soon give way to a kind of transcendence. Her articulation of sorrow is glossed over and she becomes a paragon of how to rise above grief.

Winterbottom wants us to see Mariane as a champion of the soul and a shining example of how to survive these parlous times. But the emotional effect of "A Mighty Heart" is too tangled and inchoate for such easy uplift. The movie's power diminishes its conclusion. Grade: A

• Rated R for language.

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