MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM’S VIVID ACCOUNT OF THE KIDNAPPING OF AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST IN PAKISTAN.
In Karachi on January 23, 2002, American journalist Daniel Pearl phoned his wife Marianne to say he would be late for dinner. While investigating the story of British shoe-bomber Richard Reid, a go-between had put him in touch with an elusive contact. Daniel never returned from this meeting. For the next five weeks, Marianne and Daniel’s friend Asra Normani were caught up in a media firestorm. Meanwhile, the head of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism unit, FBI agents, diplomatic security personnel and two Wall Street Journal colleagues combed Pakistan’s largest city for traces of the missing Daniel.
Based on Marianne Pearl’s own book about her husband’s abduction, British director Michael Winterbottom’s film fuses the palm-sweating suspense of a thriller with the truth of a well researched documentary and the shattering emotional impact of a human drama. Angelina Jolie’s subtly understated portrayal of the pregnant Marianne has a focused intensity, conveying Marianne’s self-control and determination—until the dam breaks and a torrent of emotion is released. Shot on location, the film has an energy and spontaneity that conveys the frantic immediacy and infuriating frustrations of the search. Again and again, it captures what Dan Futterman, who portrays Daniel Pearl, has called ‘those surprising and unscripted moments of authenticity.’
The story is driven forward at breakneck speed by Winterbottom’s kinetic direction, Marcel Zyskind’s fluid cinematography and a judicious use of music. But flashbacks to happier times ensure that we never lose sight of Marianne’s beloved Danny, a loving husband and gifted journalist committed to telling the truth, whatever the cost.—Nigel Floyd.