A Mighty Heart, the new film from Michael Winterbottom, receives its world premiere tonight, but was shown to press here in Cannes this morning. It’s based on Marianne Pearl’s published account of events in Pakistan in January 2002, following the US-backed invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. Marianne’s husband Daniel Pearl – the South Asia bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal – was kidnapped by local militants, who demanded America release detainees being held in Guantanamo Bay.
You probably know all about Daniel Pearl’s fate, and the film expects that. But it’s a testament to Winterbottom’s skill as a filmmaker that he is able to grip you with a story whose denouement is a given. As local counter-terrorism boss Captain (Irrfan Khan, excellent) closes in on a chain of terrorists who participated in the kidnapping, A Mighty Heart functions as a brilliant detective movie – one whose ending you already know.
Of course, Khan is not the biggest star of the film: A Mighty Heart is a vehicle for Angelina Jolie, whose partner Brad Pitt is one of three credited producers. The very-pregnant Marianne is a great role for her – traumatised yet somehow dignified, and oddly compassionate in her own grief – and could net her her first Best Actress Oscar (she won before for a supporting role in Girl, Interrupted).
Watching the film in Cannes almost exactly a year after seeing Babel here, it’s hard to ignore the parallels of a film that takes global miscommunication as one of its themes. Daniel’s Jewish roots mark him in some eyes as a Zionist, or even a Mossad agent; others insist his kidnapping must be an Indian-backed plot to discredit Pakistan. Everyone sees events through their own prism, and the investigation attracts competing interests. It is cooperation between the Americans and Captain’s men, however, that comes closest to saving Pearl.
Despite being a showcase for Jolie’s awards-worthy performance, A Mighty Heart is not just The Angelina Show. Winterbottom crams in what might in other hands have been a bewildering array of characters, drawn from the Wall Street Journal, local consulate, FBI, Pakistan authorities and of course the kidnappers and their supporters. Concentration is certainly required of the audience, but storytelling never becomes confusing, and the heavy expository demands of the material are met with rare subtlety. A Mighty Heart is Winterbottom’s most accomplished achievement in his already-prolific career.
