A Mighty Heart

An account of the abduction of the journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002 and what followed. Pearl works for an American newspaper and goes to a meeting in Karachi. He does not come back. At the centre of the film is his wife Mariane, herself a journalist and pregnant at the time. The narrative is a search: phone records, email addresses, intermediaries, the Pakistani police, the American consulate, and a temporary centre set up in a house. Mariane draws names and a chart of connections on the wall and follows the investigation with a journalist's reflex. The film's choice is to be methodical rather than emotional: it shows the waiting, the bureaucracy and the fragments of information. The source is Mariane Pearl's own book. Angelina Jolie plays Mariane. Irrfan Khan plays the Pakistani police chief running the investigation, and the part is among the film's strongest elements. Michael Winterbottom directed, using his near-documentary manner again: handheld camera and real locations. It was shot in India and Pakistan. A tight example for anyone who likes thrillers drawn from record and narratives about journalism. Because the ending is known, the tension comes not from resolution but from process; the film does not show the violence and does not soften the outcome either.