| | | Based on a True Story.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, English, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby, Digital Audio
On January 23, 2002, Mariane Pearl's world changed forever. Her husband Daniel, the South Asia Bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, was researching a story on shoe bomber Richard Reid. The story drew them to Karachi where a go-between had promised access to an elusive source. As Danny left for the meeting, he told Mariane he might be late for dinner. He never returned.In the face of death, Danny's spirit of defiance and his unflinching belief in the power of journalism led Mariane to write about his disappearance, the intense effort to find him and his eventual murderer in her memoir A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl. Six months pregnant when the ordeal began, she was carrying a son that Danny hoped to name Adam. She wrote the book to introduce Adam to the father he would never meet. Transcending religion, race and nationality, Mariane's courageous desire to rise above the bitterness and hatred that continues to plague this post 9/11 world, serves as the purest expression of the joy of life she and Danny shared. Starring Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted) as Mariane Pearl, and Dan Futterman, Oscar-nominated for his Capote screenplay, as Daniel Pearl, A Mighty Heart is directed by Michael Winterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo, Tristram Shandy) and produced by Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner for Plan B Entertainment (Year of the Dog, The Departed) and Andrew Eaton for Revolution Films (The Road to Guantanamo). John Orloff (Band of Brothers) wrote the screenplay.
"...Jolie gives an excellent performance. She portrays Mariane as gutsy, smart, passionate and highly efficient." Ken Fox, TV Guide
"Moving and frighteningly real." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"...a taut police procedural that examines all sides of an issue and forces us to re-think our own." Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer
"Stunning." Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
"The film belongs to Jolie. She won an Oscar for 1999's "Girl, Interrupted," but this is by far her best performance." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
Prolific director Michael Winterbottom (24-HOUR PARTY PEOPLE) takes an unusual turn by helming A MIGHTY HEART--a studio picture starring none other than Angelina Jolie. Jolie stars as Mariane Pearl, the widow of WALL STREET JOURNAL reporter Daniel Pearl. Daniel was kidnapped and executed in Pakistan in 2002, and Winterbottom's film centers on the frantic activities leading up to his death. Fellow journalist Mariane revs into action as soon as the disappearance of her husband is announced, calling on the FBI and experts in terrorism to help in the desperate search. With the media circling around the story like hawks, Mariane endures a very public display of grief, and her plight is perfectly captured by the unlikely alliance of Winterbottom and Jolie. The film was shot mostly in Karachi and uses locations that Daniel was known to have visited, adding a heady dose of authenticity to the proceedings. Winterbottom uses shaky, hand-held cameras, which add to the feeling of chaos as multiple organizations descend on Pakistan in the quest to find Daniel; fortunately the director uses some much-needed on-screen captions to make sure viewers are up to speed on who everyone is. A MIGHTY HEART is tough, emotional viewing that will be challenging (yet rewarding) for many audiences, even those who are already familiar with this heartbreaking story.
| Features | Audio: English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Dubbed: French, Spanish | | Featurette: Journey Of Passion - The Making Of A Mighty Heart | | Information On The Committee To Protect Journalists | | Interactive Menus | | Public Service Announcement: Pearl Foundation With Christiane Amanpour | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 10/16/2007 |
| Running Time: 107.783333333333 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 3505242 | | UPC: 00097363505242 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"[T]he movie strides ahead with a good sense of rhythm, rocking backward just when relief is needed..." 06/22/2007 p.50-51USA Today
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "A MIGHTY HEART deserves a place alongside the best films that seek to re-create a shattering time in our recent history." 06/22/2007 p.6D New York Times
"A MIGHTY HEART is wrenching, but it's the buzzing undercurrent of anger that makes it most true to its source." 06/22/2007 p.E17 Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he film is given a raw and riveting docudrama treatment by the superb British director Michael Winterbottom." 06/28/2007 p.78 Film Comment
"This is the story of a woman waiting, and dealing with the officers of two or three bureaucracies....Jolie's intelligence radiates Mariane's..." 07/01/2007 p.71 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[Winterbottom] has fashioned a grim, taut docudrama with the urgency, verisimilitude and forensic eye for detail that have become his stocks in trade." 10/01/2007 p.55 Sight and Sound
"[A] film that handles its harrowing subject matter with honesty and acute political insight." 10/01/2007 p.63 Uncut
3 stars out of 5 -- "[S]ober and often gripping....[With] ambient cinematography and low-key ensemble-playing." 03/01/2008 p.124 Ultimate DVD
5 stars out of 5 -- "This is one of the most powerful stories about loss you're ever likely to see." 04/01/2008 p.77 ReelViews 8 of 10
A Mighty Heart, Michael Winterbottom's interpretation of the memoir written by Pearl's widow, Mariane, examines events of that one month period from the perspective of those who sought Daniel's release: his pregnant wife, his friends and colleagues at The Wall Street Journal, and the Pakistani security forces. The film is fascinating and at times disturbing, but Winterbottom's arms-length style mutes any emotional impact...Despite its curiously stoic tone, A Mighty Heart retains its capacity to fascinate and intrigue. The film provides a lot of behind-the-scenes information about the investigation. It's also circumspect when it comes to representing Daniel's death. We see the reactions of others watching the video but Winterbottom does not feel the need to recreate the journalist's gruesome end. He uses words, not images, to clarify Daniel's fate, and Mariane's unwillingness to view her husband's murder becomes a major point late in the film. This restraint is emblematic of the entire picture. While A Mighty Heart may not be the most complete film that could be made about the story, its insider point-of-view gives it a vantage that a more comprehensive movie might not have. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
"A Mighty Heart" begins with shots of the teeming streets of Karachi, Pakistan, a city with a population that seems jammed in, shoulder to shoulder. Terrorists will emerge from this sea of humanity, kidnap the American journalist Daniel Pearl and disappear. The film is about the desperate search for Pearl (Dan Futterman) before the release of the appalling video showing him being beheaded. It is told largely through the eyes of and based on a memoir by his widow, Mariane...We know how the story is going to end. The real drama is played out with the natures of the people looking for him...What is most fascinating about Mariane Pearl, in life and in this movie, is that she is not a stereotyped hysterical wife, weeping on camera, but a cool, courageous woman who behaves in a way best calculated to save her husband's life. Listen to her speak and sense how her mind works...What is best about "A Mighty Heart" is that it doesn't reduce the Daniel Pearl story to a plot, but elevates it to a tragedy. A tragedy that illuminates and grieves for the hatred that runs loose in our world, hatred as a mad dog that attacks everyone. Attacks them for what seems, to the dog, the best of reasons. - Roger Ebert
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