Back when she had just lost her husband, Mariane Pearl declared superciliously that “revenge would be easy, but it is far more valuable … to address this problem of terrorism with enough honesty to question our own responsibility as nations and as individuals for the rise of terrorism.” She called on “our governments to work hand in hand,” and for “love, compassion, friendship and citizenship” to transcend the so-called “clash of civilizations.”
Yawn. The woman is a walking cliché. As is Angelina Jolie, who plays Mariane in “A Mighty Heart,” for which the media are conducting a blitzkrieg of publicity. Time and again, Jolie has appeared to tediously intone about this effort, puncturing every sentence with whispers about forgiveness and reconciliation.
The Muslim age-old Jew hatred played a large part in Daniel Pearl’s beheading. He was accused of being a spy and agent of the Mossad and made to recite a humiliating confession to that effect, before his head was lopped off. The jihadis released a video of his butchering titled, “The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl.”
So obviously aimed at consolidating Jolie and Mariane Pearl’s sainthood, the film shifts the focus away from such salient aspects. It concentrated instead on the heroism of journalists. Mariane calls herself a journalist. Like most, she is eager to celebrate herself (or, alternately, the Islamic hajj).
Such is Mariane’s ego that a colleague of Pearl has already lamented that the Daniel Pearl she knew was nowhere to be found in the film. A rather dashing man, Daniel is played by some unknown, Dan Futterman, whom Salon.com’s, no-doubt, feminist reviewer described approvingly as “grave and elfin.” That’s not good, believe me. Basically, the hero dwarfs alongside Mariane Pearl/Jolie.
In any event, to watch Angelina with an afro and an accent play a pregnant saint is not my idea of fun. Ever since she began to believe she was on earth to die for everyone else’s sins toward the poor “brown babies” of the world (in the words of the inimitable Ingrid Bergman, in “Murder On The Orient Express”), Jolie has lost whatever meager acting abilities she had. All I can see is an annoying, emoting activist.