I knew it, when the trailer was released, that this is something that's gonna move me deeply. However, bombarded by loads of homeworks, exams, and social activities (new interest!), it slipped through my mind to put this Michael Winterbottom's masterpiece in my have-to-be-seen-films list. Until yesterday, when I chatted with a Pakistani brother on how enthralled I am to climb either at Pakistan or India, he said, "You know right, wha
t's going on between India and Pakistan?" The question straight away reminded me about the "Truly Moving Award" winner (awarded by Heartland Film Festival in 2007 together with another stunningly narrated film, Freedom Writer) with brilliantly tucked-in performance by Angelina Jolie and distinguished cast by Dan Futterman, Will Paton, Archie Panjabi and Irfan Khan (Ashoke Ganguli in The Namesake!), A mighty Heart. It didn't take me long to put this film in my hectic schedule, which was right after Purdue Climbers' weekly film, King Lines.While watching a film, it is my habit to partition a film into at least two parts, so I can take a rest for while in between (applied only on downloaded films!) But this year, other than The Namesakes, this film also has pulled all of my body and attention from the beginning till the end.
Critics have been argued about A Mighty Heart's lack of novelty; how cliche the themes are, how dull the plots are and how poor the screenplay is. As from my perspective as an audience, who is the target of the filmmaker, I believe I'v
e grabbed the film's MAIN contention. A Mighty Heart is not about retelling story about an American journalist, Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Karachi Pakistan (one point off from the critics!). It is a story about Marianne Pearl's sagacious heart in facing this obstacle, and most importantly is the message of love. Then, I move to the next part, which is the film's other contentions which I guess the idea of cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music and dialog. It specifically can be observed at the character of the little child, Asra, Marianne herself and Daniel. After that, only I look at the actors and actresses, whom I believe support the film's contentions very well.The lesson I've learned from this outstanding film is that I really don't have to look at a film's cast to judge the film (of course after millions of films out there I should be selective a bit, so I won't waste my time), I just need to be clear of whatever the filmmaker wants to tell me, only then I move to other aspects!
