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A Mighty Heart

{mosimage}Controversial director Michael Winterbottom is back with a film that narrates the real story of the kidnapping and assassination of journalist Danny Pearl in Pakistan. 

Winterbottom´s cinema is far from the mainstream productions. The director of films like the highly erotic 9 Songs or the highly surrealistic A Cock and Bull Story is very influenced by the military intervention of USA after the sad attacks of September 11th in his last two films: A Road to Guantanamo and this A Mighty Heart. The film focuses on the kidnapping of American Jewish journalist Danny Pearl, but the main star of the film will be the role reserved for his wife, Marian Pearl, incarnated by Angelina Jolie. Personally I find her too much overacting in the film.

I would have preferred some other real Latina actress for the role. Since the end of Danny Pearl´s sad story is well known for most of the people before and while watching the movie, the excitement about the final solution for the plot is, in this case, transformed on an attention and curiosity to observe how people can react to such extreme situation as facing the kidnapping of a beloved relative in a foreign country. For me, the best parts of the movie are when the Pakistani police captain (Irfan Khan) is in action through the never ending streets and suburbs of the city of Karachi, or when the investigation team is sitting around the table analyzing the twisted situation in Pakistan and its special and tense relation with neighboring India.In any case, being a journalist myself,

I cannot less than feel proud of those colleagues that risk their lives all over the world, far from home, in search of the truth and honest information. May Danny Pearl not be forgotten, but just settle a message of peace and understanding among different cultures. Winterbottom´s delivers that message, and the final scenes with the birth of Adam, Pearl´s baby, symbolize that there is always a new chance for a better future in this world.

Rating 3/5.

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