A good movie with very good actors

TheImitationWavess

It is obvious that this movie would not be light-hearted, due to the subject matter and I was glad to see that the movie was well done and well acted and very thoughtful with such difficult material and subject matter.

Kudos to Michael Winterbottom I think hits the right note with the careful docu-style directing. And I really thought that Futterman, Panjabi, Jolie and Khan's acting were exceptional! They handled difficult material with grace and heart and it shows in their performances. I hope to see Oscor nods for all four actors! This movie is a good movie to remember Daniel Pearl by and what true journalism really is; investigative reporting, not tabloid reporting. There is great journalism out there and we can see that through this movie. The sad fact is that many journalists, especially those reporting from the Middle-East, lose their lives for reporting the things they uncover. This movie is a tribute to those journalists as well, in my opinion.

I really liked the scenes in which Mariane, Asra, Captain and their colleagues were collaborating with each other to try to find Danny, because it shows that we can all get along, no matter what our background, and I feel this movie showed that very well. (I didn't know whether this was a spoiler warning or not, so I checked off spoiler warning just in case)

Unfortunately, for many people it seems that politics underscores their critical evaluation of this movie. This is the same debate as with the politics of the movie "Munich" (2005). Some people, with extreme political opinions, just do not like a balanced view and actively attack it. I can understand critical negative opinion of this movie based on good, thoughtful criticism, but I have read some really vile criticisms, which had little to do with the movie and more with people's political biases. However, I am glad to see that people with a balanced and sensitive view to world politics, still get their movies made. It is obvious that people will attack the movie and even Ms.Jolie (as I had the misfortune to read) for reasons, other than the critical merits of the film or the merits of her acting, but rather her person and their political bias, which is quite sad in my opinion.

Kudos for everyone working on this film for having the courage to make this film the way Mariane Pearl and the crew envisioned it!

score /10

TheImitationWavess 23 June 2007

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1679513/