BLU-RAY
REVIEW:
A MIGHTY HEART

03/22/09

When watching a film based on
a true story, specially one that has been controversial and
has received major attention from the press, I am inclined
to speculate about the maze that lead to the chain of
events. In an effort to recollect these events of what
happened to Daniel Pearl in Karachi, Pakistan in 2002, the movie "A Mighty
Heart" brings us much more than the facts. This is a film
that was made with love, sensitivity and understanding from
its planning to the final product.
After making political docudramas and movies like The Road to
Guantanamo, and Welcome to Sarajevo, director Michael Winterbottom was chosen by producer Brad Pitt to
conduct this movie. Winterbottom used Mariane Pearl's book
as an instrument to bring the big screen the bare truth and
sense of reality that the book transpires. In doing so he
met with the people that were close to Marianne at the time
of the tragedy and asked the cast including Angelina Jolie,
to meet on a personal basis with each of the characters they
were going to interpret. For Jolie it was an honor to
interpret the character of Marianne Pearl since from their
first encounter, she was compelled with her story and only
felt admiration for such a courageous and strong woman.
While watching this film the audience can get a better
understanding of the political secrecy, religious ideology,
and social issues that came to play in the death of Wall
Street Journalist reporter Daniel Pearl. While this movie
was filmed in Pakistan, India and France the backdrop
scenery like the house keeper with the child at the Pearl's
residence, to the busy streets full of misery, and the
senseless traffic jam, to the political riots all serve to bring life to the status of
chaos going on in this country.
The plot contains the
pregnant wife of Pearl desperately running against time in a
foreign country where terrorist have mistaken her husband
for a CIA agent pretending to be a journalist. It is made
clear that being a Jew in this Arabian country did not help
him and only added to the hatred of his terrorists. While the director
used the supporting actors well, it is their role in
the kidnapping what is mostly highlighted. One of the
downfalls of this film is that some of the supporting actors
lack of showing urgency to find Pearl and natural emotional
distress over his death. I doubt that this was
Winterbottom's intention as Marianne clearly states how
grateful she was for all the help received during the search
for Pearl in one of the scenes.
The entire kidnapping maze from
Pearl's translator to his contacts and the assistance of the
authorities in this country as well as the US involvement is
clear and well elaborated.
While all of this adds on to an entertaining suspenseful
film, it is a sad, touching
and personal story that has Angelina and Brad's mission
written all over it. To bring to the world the truth about
what is
going on in other countries.
The Blu-ray contains basically the same special features
found on the previous DVD release, with the disappointment
that these special features are not in high definition. It
includes
"Journey of Passion: The Making of "A Mighty
Heart"; a good 30 minutes documentary about the film
production. It also includes
a short featurette about
The Committee to Protect
Journalists and theatrical trailers.
Like it was expected Paramount Home
Entertainment HD presentation of the film is better than
the DVD. A full 1080P widescreen with a 1.85:1 aspect
ration preserving its theatrical format. Since most of
the scenes in the film were shot during the day. The
picture has vivid colors and zero saturation. I was not disappointed. All this
visual experience is well complemented with a True HD 5.1
Dolby Digital for a good HD viewing pleasure
Review
By Jen
jen@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) 1080P
AUDIO:
English
True HD,
Spanish and French
5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Subtitles -English SDH, English,
French, Spanish, Portuguese - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Journey of Passion: The Making of "A
Mighty Heart" :
A good 30 minutes documentary about the film production. The
documentary covers the aspect for creating the story.
Includes comments from the cast, producers and director.
Committee to Protect
Journalists: A nice explanation on how the Committee
was created and what is its purpose (8:46:)
Public Service Announcement - Pearl
Foundation with Christiane Amanpour
Theatrical Trailers: Margot At
The Wedding, An Artic Tale, A Mighty Heart and Stardust
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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