Anjelina is a mighty fine actress. This is a well directed film. I didn't know the story of this kidnapping so it was a little rough to have the outcome revealed on the dvd special introduction. My advice: if you don't know the story , just go straight into the film.

Over 15 years old, I remember watching it years ago for the first time Directed by Michael Winterbottom and based on the true story of Mariane and her husband Daniel Pearl's kidnapping Mariane and Daniel who’s a journalist for the Wall Street Journal head to Pakistan but unfortunately he’s captured by terrorists She does all she can to get support from other journalists and get the help of local authorities The attention of the world weighs in while also trying to combat the underground politics involved as well as the red tape Omar Sheikh was the leader of this whole ordeal and Mariane fought tooth and nail to get her husband back safely No one deserves to be separated from their loved ones in a hostile, politically corrupt nation but Angelina Jolie gives a firehouse of a performance It’s so gutwrenching that you might be in tears by the end This shows how far one person is willing to go to ask as many people as possible while also combating the bureaucratic individuals It also makes sense too given that the US doesn't fully understand the Middle East and their views on the status of the world It’s a bit long and the ending is a downer but it speaks to us that we all have to connect through our words, our reasoning, and our compassion Responding with threats, violence, and terror are not the way Jolie's performance is golden

Surprisingly dull for such an important and heartbreaking story.

Surf whatever channel you wish to, the day you see this film you are going to hear only one news. A Mighty Heart Winterbottom has a daunting task, to make an unfathomable true case into a compelling drama. And the primary reason why it doesn't speak to the larger audience, is that it focuses on the aspects of the world that people often tend to ignore. Addition to that, as an excuse for drama, it is obliged to and does focuses on the reminiscing emotions along with guilt, unknown terror and lack of opportunity. And packed hastily with these horrifying elements the adapted screenplay of John Orloff from a book by Mariane Pearl, threads this sobering journey with formal paperwork and vital social rigmarole that it has cornered itself to go through. The director Michael Winterbottom against these many odds is still delivering a gritty political drama that befriends the humanitarian nature in the workplace. And that very brief period, that comes late in the film remains my favorite part and the gist of the film. Despite being dipped in a series of pathos information revealed subsequently, the troops in the middle of this cold war manages to find some quality time to share and endear. A film of such rigid posture and it feels good to see it dance absentminded; a slow dance but I'll take anything. And supporting cast is a major boost in this film. There are plenty of guest appearances in here and each of them casts quite an impression on us and Angelina Jolie in lead. Her part, to be fair, is difficult to portray. Consistently and entirely covering the film with a reserved depressed emotional ride, Jolie gets very few moments to fully exaggerate and express her emotions. A Mighty Heart has a big upbeating and surprisingly even optimistic heart, but all of that remains to be the aftermath that is to and does come after the storm leaves the sea.

The thrill slowly picks up in the factual search and rescue mission through the oversea trouble's lost translation, displaying how much in the process it's affecting the predicted widow whose authentic figure enables Jolie's stunning performance as the main highlight. (B) (Full review TBD)

Daniel Pearl was a journalist who was kidnapped and executed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. This film is a recreation of those events. 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. (Fascinating look at a tragedy).

The kidnap and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002 is compassionately told and respectfully chronicled in Michael Winterbottom's drama that is based on the memoirs by the surviving wife Mariane Pearl who is played with conviction by Angelina Jolie.

Absolutely unnecessary movie. Everyone knows what happened. There was no new details or revelations. Just 2 hours of Angelina Jolie’s contrived accent. Not worthy of my time.

based on the heartbreaking true story of Danny Pearle and his wife Marianne after 9/11 they were married and expecting a child; Danny worked as a journalist and his wife was working with French contacts they go to Pakistan to uncover the truth about the current state of tensions escalating between them and the US but Danny is missing and his wife figures out he has been kidnapped and held hostage by terrorists she sets out to find him non-stop no one deserves to be separated from their loved ones in a hostile, politically corrupt nation but Angelina Jolie gives a firehouse of a performance it's so gutwrenching that you might be in tears by the end this is how far one person is willing to go to ask as many people as possible while also combating the bureaucratic individuals it makes sense too given that the US doesn't fully understand the Middle East and their views on the status of the world it's a bit long and the ending is a downer but it speaks to us that we all have to connect through our words, our reasoning, and our compassion responding with threats, violence, and terror are not the way Jolie's performance is golden

A compelling political drama displaying with strong performance from Angelina Jolie.

Confusing presentation of the story. Subtitles too small for the small screen. Acting is good, but could have been better in scripting, and much of the film is so dark, that it is hard to make out what is going on.

Finally MADE myself watch this movie. Jolie delivers as always but the whole incident just makes me uncomfortable. Felt lacking in a way.

Angelina Jolie and Archie Punjabi... why else wouldnt I watch it.... Angelina does well for acting out a Africaan accent. But thats it in this wishy washy directed film.

Sad true story but style over substance

Angelina Jolie theme day, film number 2. If nothing else, this film made sure that I will not be interested in visiting Karachi. The chaos and amount of people is just too much for me, not to mention the various risk factors. A horrible destiny for a person. Not acceptable, never.

It's a well-intentioned film, but the very clinical, process-oriented approach to the story just didn't grab me. I think Jolie was maybe not the right choice of actors to center this film on. The filmmaking is solid from a technical perspective. I just wished their was some passion present.

Said to feature some of Angelina Jolie's best work, A Mighty Heart sounded like a hopeful chance for the extremely overrated actress. The main thing about A Mighty Heart is both its greatest aspect and its downfall: the realism in the events. Michael Winterbottom approaches the material in A Mighty Heart so directly that both the visual style of the feature and its sense of drama come off as being very realistic. It feels as if A Mighty Heart is attempting to be a direct recollection of the events surrounding the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl. There is no Hollywood dramatisation, no glim lighting, it all feels real. This is impressive because it shows Michael Winterbottom in a good light as director due to his dedication to handling the material in a natural format. The cinematography in A Mighty Heart is effective. It has the distinctive feel of a documentary type filming which encourages this exact kind of notion, and the general atmosphere of the film is tense because of all the unknown issues happening all around which reflect the situation that Mariane Pearl is facing with her missing husband. Michael Winterbottom does a strong job encouraging the realism in A Mighty Heart and it comes off as effective because it is so raw and respectful to the source material. But from an entertainment perspective, this is also a flaw. A Mighty Heart limits how much of the story it tells to following Mariane Pearl and in the process neglects the context of the tale and presumes that viewers will understand what issues Afghanistanian society faces. It is all about the little details and the characters, and while it is good at that, it limits the creativity of the storytelling in the film. A Mighty Heart is so direct with its subject that it is perhaps a little too direct. A Mighty Heart does tell the story of its events fairly well, but as a film there is so much more that it can do which it neglects in favour of simply telling its story. There are many themes that could have been covered or story elements that maintained potential, but Michael Winterbottom relied more on the simplicity of the story than its more complex potential. In short, A Mighty Heart ends up being so realistic that it limits itself solely to recalling the events of the story without dramatizing them much at all. There are moments of tense atmosphere thanks to the general subject matter and the light touch of the musical score, but the film is not always the most interesting due to the fact that it takes a less conventional path in which it sacrifices the good aspects of occasional dramatization. The atmosphere in A Mighty Heart may be consistent, but the general sense of entertainment is not which means the overall style of A Mighty Heart is hit and miss. I can admit that as a whole it lays down a more positive effect on the film than negative, but there are moments where I found myself zoning out due to the slow pace of the film and the inconsistent presence of much strong drama. There were virtues that were consistent in A Mighty Heart, but the general sense of entertainment that comes from it is not one of them. Still, the striking realism in the film is what makes it really effective. Like I said before, the cinematography in A Mighty Heart captures everything well. It encourages the realism in the film through a documentary style, and what it captures is all very grim without being tainted by commercial lighting. It is somewhat shaky at times, but not to the extent that it causes the visual experience of the film to falter at all. It just adds to the atmosphere because it encourages viewers to feel that they are getting the events up close and personal as if they are actually happening right in front of the eyes of viewers. Everything is captured to look as gritty and grim as the scenery of the film which all adds up in the end because it all contributes atmosphere to the feature in one way or another, making the film effective from a visual perspective as well as from an emotional standpoint. And to encourage the realism even further, Angelina Jolie delivers the most brilliant performance of her career up until that point in time. To be blunt, Angelina Jolie's performance as Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart is her second greatest to date, following Changeling. A Mighty Heart presents the first time that I have seen Angelina Jolie placed into an everyman type role and act it out so incredibly well. Angelina Jolie gets the role of Mariane Peral excellently with strong voice articulation and subtlty. Unlike when Angelina Jolie took on the role of Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, he accent in A Mighty Heart feels seriously genuine. It seems realistic and so her connection to channeling the character does as well. She captures the emotional trauma of the part through restrained acting and genuine subtlety. Angelina Jolie strips away all her Hollywood glamourization for the simple nature of her role in A Mighty Heart, and it does prove that she is in fact a talented actress when all the hype around her is dropped and all that is left for her to do is act. Her performance is gripping and painfull realistic, so much so that I gain a lot of respect for her by watching A Mighty Heart. Her leading performance was a revelation, a change of pace for the overly glamourised woman always at the center of the media which really puts into perspective the natural gifts she has as a performer. So while the story is not always that interesting, the utmost realistic nature of the events depicted in A Mighty Heart makes everything all the more effective, and the leading performance of Angelina Jolie is absolutely brilliant beyond expectation.

A Mighty Heart is a great movie that shows that talents of Angelina Jolie. The plot of it has been done before, but it still keeps you interested to see what's going to happen. I like how it doesn't show what the husband is going through, making the viewers guess as much as the main characters. It's unpredictable, it does make the viewers care for the main character and just wanted her husband to come back as well. It doesn't talk or show it negatively towards Pakistan as they are in the same situation the Americans are. The acting is great, especially from Angelina Jolie, and never seem to be oscar bait as A Mighty Heart as it has a good plot to support it.

The movie lives up to the title. Terrific performances, especially Angelina, and a very sad story, that the civilized world will never forget.

not exactly a pick me up film... yet brilliantly done. captivating and heart wrenching