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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A Mighty Heart

A Mighty Heart, written by Mariane Pearl, is a film that tells the story of the death of her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl, who worked for the Wall Street Journal. Mariane, who is French, is also a journalist. Together they covered the 2001-2002 retaliation by the United States toward Al Queda in Afghanistan, after the destruction of the World Trade Center and the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.

Daniel and Mariane stayed in Karachi, Pakistan longer than most journalists, and were about to go home, when Daniel followed up one last lead. It led to his capture and horrible death.

The film follows Mariane through the agonizing month of her husband's captivity, and details some of the actions of Karachi police and military, U.S. Security, terrorists, the Journal's staff, U.S. military,the families of Daniel and Mariane, and families in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had a son or brother involved in the kidnapping.

This is the most humanist of films. Ultimately Mariane derives, at least partly from practice of Buddhism, a breathtaking perspective. The film shows how deeply Daniel and Mariane love each other, how happy in her pregnancy they were. Mariane believes and feels that others love, that others lose, that her personal tragedy is part of a great human tragedy.

You have not failed, she says to the people who tried to rescue Daniel, and have gone through this terrible time with her. The terrorists want to terrorize people, and they have failed. I am not terrorized, and you must not be terrorized, either.

In the final frame of the film, we see Mariane with her now four-year-old son, Adam, walking down a narrow street in a Paris neighborhood.

The final word: This film is for Adam.

3 comments:

Indeterminacy said...

You made this film sound very interesting. I'm going to look for it in Germany.

Thanks for still another great story at Indeterminacy!

Sandi said...

Hi to you Irene!! I tried to email, but the old and new addresses came back ... so I just noticed your message of months ago saying you have your blog. I thought if I created a google account, perhaps I could reach you and say HI! I won't send a long note until I hear from you. How are you doing?

Sandi

Irene Grumman said...

Hey, Sandi! I tried to email you. I must have put an extra letter in it, because I received a reply from a Sandi S. who says she isn't you. I'll try again.