Michael Winterbottom is a skilled filmmaker who has spread his talent around in diverse projects like the naughty, shrill comedy ‘A Cock and Bull Story’ to ‘In This World,’ a tale of a desperate child who walks from Iraq to England in a bid for freedom, to the brutal ‘Road to Guantanamo,’ a documentary style drama on the American prison in Cuba where ‘9/11’ terrorists’ are held.
Winterbottom is also the man behind the edgy ‘24 Hour Party People,’ the chilling ‘Code 46’ and my favorite ‘Welcome to Sarajevo.’
His accomplishments in this diverse array of films are nothing less than spectacular.
Having said that, his latest, the Angelina Jolie biopic ‘A Mighty Heart,’ is seriously flawed, a shame as it has been so hotly anticipated.
‘A Mighty Heart’ is based on the book by Mariane Pearl, the widow of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, whose capture by Middle Eastern terrorists riveted the world in 2003.
The Pearls were journalists who stayed in Karachi Pakistan investigating terrorism after other western journalists and news outlets abandoned the place. Pearl took a chance, and went forward with what was to be his last interview before they were to return home.
As we know, Pearl was assassinated. His pregnant wife’s response was to galvanize people in strength; according to the film, Mariane was exceedingly tough, but her ordeal made more humane, not tougher.
In her first interview after the discovery of his body, she said yes, he died, but on the same day so did ten others in the same manner and shared their families’ pain. A mighty heart, indeed.
Angelina Jolie plays Pearl, whom she got to know before the shoot. Jolie’s diction, look and manner are dead on. However, the part is limited. The character is seen as strident and overbearing, even challenging the people brought in from all over the world to search for her husband.
It doesn’t give Jolie much to work with – when she’s not strident, she aims at soulful but seems blank.
Can you imagine the task of shooting the film under the constant glare of media, as they did?
Photographers hounded Jolie during production, which was a stressful time in her personal life – her mother was dying, Jolie was ill and concerned for her new and expanding family’s well being.
Winterbottom worked at a disadvantage with a distracted star against the crush of media.
But the real problem is the too tightly woven network of information, facts, people and events in the hunt for Daniel Pearl. The identity of those who set him up, their contacts and history, possible connections to 9/11, their web of supporters, all drawn out on a huge eraser board in the Pearl apartment.
If that was tough for the participants, it’s pretty much unintelligible to us. Too much detail, too many facts. The story needs to be simpler to be powerful. Dense, dense and denser.
A big shout out to Irrfan Khan, the gifted New Delhi actor who plays Captain, the leader of the local constabulary. His performance is cool and measured, but there is much heart behind those eyes. This is the performance that lingers.
Brad Pitt produced the film under his Plan B banner, co-founded with Jennifer Aniston (!), which currently has a healthy twenty projects on the go.
A Mighty Heart
Opens wide USA June 22. MPAA: Rated R for language
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