The desired objective of terrorists is to create a sense of acute paranoia by which people and governments take the initiative in changing how their society functions. In the case of the United States, the government altered its domestic and foreign policy in the wake of the September 11th attacks with the passing of the Patriot Act and the invasion of Iraq respectively. In reality, however, the real effects of terrorism are more heartbreaking and frustrating than they are terrifying. Aside from 9/11, no better example of this exists than the story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, which is the focus of director Michael Winterbottom’s film, A Mighty Heart.

No stranger to political dramas, Winterbottom (Welcome to Sarajevo, The Road to Guantanamo) undertakes this well documented story with a cast of relative unknowns with one huge exception. Angelina Jolie, unquestionably one of the most publicized individuals in Hollywood history, bravely takes on the role of Mariane Pearl, a woman of African and Cuban heritage who was forced to endure a living nightmare in 2002 when her beloved husband, portrayed here by Dan Futterman, was abducted by terrorists while attempting to interview a prominent sheik in the large Pakistani city of Karachi.

Jolie’s performance is electric and is almost certain to garner an Oscar nomination. She is able to command the attention of the audience in every scene, much like Al Pacino or Robert De Niro can; yet in today’s Hollywood it is exceedingly rare for an actress to be given such an opportunity. Part of what makes the role so moving is that we already know how this story ends. Nevertheless, Jolie takes us every step of the way from when Daniel fails to answer his cellphone, to the first e-mail from the kidnappers, through the horrendous video that forever changes her life and sends shockwaves throughout the entire world.

The supporting cast should be given a tremendous amount of credit for helping to create a film with an edgy, authentic feel. Irfan Khan, for example, is dazzling as the lead Pakistani detective assisting Mariane Pearl by tracking down the convoluted web of contacts that draws them closer to the abductors. To depict the progression of the detective work, Winterbottom opts for a documentary style picture complete with hand-held cameras and a variety of flash cuts that brings the audience from one shady apartment to another as they desperately try to find Daniel Pearl before time runs out.

The end result of this story does not in any way belittle the passionate and dedicated work that Mariane Pearl and the various authorities put in during that horrible week. Terrorism, like other forms of guerilla warfare, does not typically allow for happy endings. Even when perpetrators are brought to justice it is usually after some heinous crime has already been carried out. For sure, A Mighty Heart tells a story that seems to have been the first in what has become an almost weekly series of tragic episodes in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. History, it seems, does repeat itself; especially when certain institutions continue to put honorable men and women in threatening positions regardless of the regularity of these atrocities.

By Chris Virnig