A Mighty Heart (UK)
Director : Michael Winterbottom
Screening Courtesy: Revolution Films,
sponsored by the British Council.

The premium British beer 'London Pride' will be served.

 

 

8 pm, Thursday July 12, 2012

Members: Free Non Members: 150 THB , London Pride Beer : 50 THB

 

A Mighty Heart by well-known British director Michael Winterbottom (Welcome to Sarajevo, Road to Guantanamo ) is the riveting film which resurrects the infamous kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, that shocked the world in 2002.

Pearl, of Jewish origin, was captured by Islamic militants in Karachi. The film is based on the memoir A Mighty Heart by his widow Mariane, which moved the Hollywood superstar couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie so much that the former produced this film, and the latter acted in it.

Director Winterbottom, who was in Pakistan, at the time of the kidnapping, also said he felt a deep connection with the story.

Angelina Jolie's outstanding role as the pregnant Mariane Pearl, won her numerous award nominations, and is regarded as one of her best to date. Other arresting artistes in the film are Will Patton (The List), Indian actor Irfan Khan (Slumdog Millionaire), and the British-Indian actress Archie Panjabi (Bend it like Beckham').

The film has the pace, tension and sweep of a pulsating thriller, but it is a harrowing real-life story of committed journalists, innocent spouses, security agencies and the ordinary public, all helpless victims of complex politics, terrorism, and religious fundamentalism. That kidnappings like these still occur around the world, makes this film as real and vibrant today as it was when it was first released in 2007.

The film centers around Daniel Pearl going to meet an extremist cleric in Karachi, leaving behind his pregnant wife Mariane. When he doesn't return, his desperate wife, together with Pakistan's intelligence agency and the US FBI, do everything to find him. The kidnapping becomes world- headlines, and we see the real-life clips of top people like Colin Powell, asking for Pearl's release.

What the Critics said-
NEW YORK TIMES - A Mighty Heart works surprisingly well as a nail-biting political thriller.
USA TODAY- Emotionally and viscerally compelling, and retains a suspenseful, edge-of-the-seat quality.
MSN.COM - The film dramatizes Mariane's frantic search for her husband, with the pulse of a thriller, and the intelligence of a political drama.

The film screening is a British Council-sponsored event, and will be presided over by Country Director, Chris Gibson.
The premium British beer 'London Pride' will be served.

Don't miss a riveting movie, in our Contemporary World Film Series.

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