“A Mighty Heart” is a Mighty Sad Movie

Re: # 41

neembu,

........... leaving aside the historical injustices in the entertainment business, i still don`t see the big deal about who played mrs pearl in the movie ......... i know there is an affirmative action ``quota`` system in american movies, but i find it rather patronizing and demeaning that hollywood is obliged to cast at least one african american character in a ``positive`` role in every film, regardless of the context .......... and sometimes it gets comical - it is one thing for morgan freeman to show up as tim robbins prison buddy (shawshank redemption), but what the heck was he doing up in montana as robert redford`s stoic sidekick in `an unfinished life` ! .......

........ this type of academic nitpicking doesn`t do any good and fools like churchill ward end up hurting their cause more than they help it ...........

p.s. you are too sweet to be a neembu.... maybe a tangerine .....

Re: # 41

Neembu. It’s a sad day when the most horrific murder, committed by Muslims of an innocent journalist because he was a Jew, has been totally moved to a footnote status while some pseudo-intellectuals are arguing the merits of who plays the role of his widow in a movie. What a lovely state of intellectual affairs. Has anyone contacted Hollywood to see if they give a tiny amount of hoot about it?

Re: # 43

Kulharee Sahib,

Quite a telling notion that you perceive ``rendering visible`` all the people in this film adaptation of a historical tragedy as denying the criminal act itself. Or are you just grandstanding now?

What does it mean to render someone visible, whether they are Jewish, African or Pakistani? What does it mean when we are participate in our own dehumanization to the extent that we accept white actors and actresses ``be`` us in one of the most lucrative and influential entertainment industries in the world? Why are we so satisfied to occupy roles of villany to the extent that we cannot even find ourselves in our moments of courage and moral conscientiousness? I ask this because by Ras` account, the Pakistan that grieved with Pearl is not present in this film. And here we encounter yet another form erasure-our erasure of our authentic selves-the selves who are disturbed by the murder of Pearl.

If pointing out that desis need to stop being content with being the darkies in the background of Hollywood narratives of white heroism makes me Al Sharpton, I have news for you Tawana...and that is that you have been assaulted....

Ras,

It`s just another formula tear jerker .... pregnant mom-to-be ends up in a hostile and primitive land looking for her noble journalist husband abducted by forces of evil ... reminds me of another lemon (not neembu) called Flight 77 where the plot on cue flashed back to the pilot`s infant son every 5 minutes while the proud father was busy battling pirates in the air ... wow.

RE: #20 by Love2love

I do not have your email address anymore.


This movie is really ``The Mariane Pearl Story``

as far as I could gather. It is getting killed at

the box office here in the USA and on that note

I have to partially agree with hamidm2.

(I cannot agree with him fully because I write

and post under my own name on CHOWK).

Ras

A Look back to the subject matter to what I had written on CHOWK in 2002

in ``Lessons From The Pearl Murder`` at

http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00001258&channel=chaathouse&start=0&end=9&chapter=1&page=1

It brought back quite a few bad memories.


Now Lemon and the 2nd reincarnation of Arjun have been busy talking

to each other on this board and it appears that others want to follow in their footsteps.


This was a very sad movie, one that should cause both anger and

much reflection in viewers.

It appears that this review has reached quite a number of readers

via a number of media outlets and some (even from the cast)

have not been happy with what I wrote about it.

In any case

I was hoping that other CHOWK readers who have seen it

would add their views instead of creating other topics for

discussion here.

If you have seen ``A Mighty Heart`` what did you really think of it?


Ras

Re: # 29

Dear Ras,

My apologies for non topic related comments on your board. I read your review and appreciated your insights particularly on the Karachi of the film and the city in reality. Some of the academic listserv discussions about the film have explored another erasure- of Marianne Pearl`s African identity through the story being represented by the Jolie/Pitt team. I`ve posted an article on my ilog that presents the different perspectives on this issue.

Re: # 32

ms saminsha,

........... i see that everyone has their own little axe to grind but i think you are getting a little silly about this `blackface` thing ........... would the movie have been any better if halle berry had played that role? ............ get off it !

p.s. as far as i am concerned, halle berry would have been okay too, i would still want to see her naked ........

Re: # 33

hello hamid sahib. have you read the article?

It seems to me comments that serve to close down discussion rather than encourage participants to think thoughtfully are usually the refuge of the lazy. I know that some desis like to think of themselves as white, but I`m not one of them and the relevance of the erasure of race in this film exists on several levels. I`m sure in the blockbuster film adaption of Chowk.com, you`ll want to be played by Sir Ben Kingsley or even Aasif Maandvi and not Brad Pitt...as I know Arjun will be played by Kal Penn. :)

Re: # 33
[...halle berry would have been okay too, i would still want to see her naked ........ ]

Then watch ``monster ball`` ...

Re: # 29

ras mian,

........ even though i am a big movie buff, i have no intention of seeing this film .......... the trailer was rather sappy and watching one angelina jolie movie is like watching another - inspite of the dark hair and scruffy look, she is still angelina and all you want is to see her naked ! ................ and as far as the chowk crowd is concerned, it is old news for us that has been rehashed over and over again ........ i am sure it is an okay film but if i want to see yet another ``triumph of the human spirit`` movie i will go see braveheart again - mel gibson was a great actor before he started drinking and became a muslim .......... the movie would have been more interesting if it had focused on the life of sheikh omar saeed to give us some insight into what turns a public school man into a cold blooded killer .........

.......... think i`ll wait till it comes out on dvd ......

#26 by hamidm2,

I`m neither a beneficiary of UK nor wish its destruction. However as long as they wage war, other people will respond in kind ...

Re: # 27

zee,

neither was sheikh omar saeed - lse alumnus and daniel pearl`s murderer ........... or so he claimed ............ the people of uk are fully justified in being a wary of the people who live in their midst, are the benficiaries of the welfare system, and wage war against them .............

... anyway, congratulations on your new car ...........you must admit, as much as you hate it, living in the west does have some advantages - i love my cavalier too ......

#24 by hamidm2,

Did it look like one to you?

And `Burgundy`, not `Maroon` you ganwaar ... :)

Re: # 25

zeemax,

..... burgundy, maroon .. what would i know ... i drive a `97 chevy cavalier .... alhamdolillah! ......... but it really strikes me odd that a man who is obviously a beneficiary of the system in uk would wish for its destruction - is this what they call the masadi complex ?