June « 2007 « ENTERTAINMENT REALM

A Mighty Heart: Film Review

June 23, 2007

In early 2002, I remember logging on to the Boston Phoenix’s web site to witness for myself the shocking and disgusting beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl [Dan Futterman] at the hands of terrorists in Pakistan. It seemed so surreal. I watched it a few times. The media did not tell the entire story which unfolds in A Mighty Heart.

In the film, based on the memoir by Mariane Pearl, it shows the intense search for Pearl which involved the police in Pakistan, friends/colleagues of Pearl and an American security expert. Daniel’s email and cell phone are traced and links are drawn between everyone that he had contact with en route to the interview where he got kidnapped. There’s an immense distain toward Americans and Westerners in Pakistan and Winterbottom portrays this as well as the good and solidly fair people in Pakistan. A Mighty Heart focuses on one disgusting act of terrorism but chooses to focus on humanity. Love holds the power in the film, not to be shattered by a cowardly act of hatred.

A Mighty Heart marks the third post 9/11 film by one of my favorite directors, Michael Winterbottom. Two young Afghan refugees take a long, complicated journey to England in the gritty film In This World , while the documentary-style, emotionally fueled Road to Guantanamo tells the true story of three British citizens of Arab descent who are wrongfully arrested and detained by the United States. While Tristam Shandy: a Cock and Bull Story is a fun, zany, hilarious romp, Winterbottom is able to flip easily to cover more serious material, such as in my favorite Winterbottom film, the heartwrenching, touching and sometimes funny Welcome to Sarajevo.

Yes, we know how it all ends but we do not know everything that happened between the kidnapping and his vicious execution. Winterbottom takes the material in A Mighty Heart and layers it so that the audience becomes invested in Mariane’s passionate love for her husband and ultimately relates to her frantic search to find him. As Pearl, Angelina Jolie delves into every angle of her personality: her intensity, her strength, her immense heart and her fairness which is an extension of her journalism career and her worldly view of things.

A Mighty Heart is a remarkable love story and an intense drama.

STEELE RECOMMENDATION: SEE IT IN THE THEATER.

Comments Off | Film | Tagged: Afghanistan, Angelina Jolie, Gulf War | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

The Bridge: Film Review

June 22, 2007

During 2004, a filmmaker and his crew recorded events at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco for a year. This is the #1 suicide spot in the world. In this film, we see many of the 24 suicides committed during that span of time. It also includes interviews with those who attempted suicide and survived as well as with family members and friends of those who successfully jumped off the bridge and ended their lives. It is somber material and strangely compelling. Really actually fascinating as it delves into mental health and treatment of the mentally ill [denial about depression, mental illness or the commitment to actually end one's life by those closest to the person]. The Bridge juxaposes the beauty and power of this beautiful structure and the devastation of mental illness and this bridge as a way out of the pain of despair, intense sadness and hopelessness. It is honest and rare for suicide to be addressed so directly and honestly by a film. Unless you have felt such crushing depression or the feeling that there is no way to go on anymore. You’ve tried and tried and feel you do not fit in, you will never succeed and most importantly will never feel content in this world. For many, the only way out is to jump. Many of the friends and family members understand the choices that these people make. “I have understood that there are people who have incessant pain,” one woman says. Jumping off the bridge is dramatic and either draws attention or will prove to someone that no one even notices or cares. But it is quick and painless. There are a few cases where the person survives, though.