In February of 2002 Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl was brutally murdered by terrorists. Since his death, nearly 230 reporters of all stripes, colors, nationalities and creeds have been killed in the line of duty trying to follow events taking place in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It goes without saying, but these people have all died trying to bring the truth to the world, and for that alone – no matter what else they have done in their lives – they should be honored for their great sacrifice.

I am not in their league. I am nothing more than a film critic, an entertainment reporter covering things, in the glaring light of day, that are probably as about as meaningful as my trying to find the perfect purse to go along with a clubbing outfit or my best friend scouring the MAC makeup counter for the perfect shade of lipstick for her big date on Saturday. What I say has little consequence in the world. I know this, and it is thinking about what happened to Danny Pearl or in the reading of his wife Mariane’s memoir of the events surrounding this ordeal A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl this fact hits home the hardest.

Be that as it may, no matter how insignificant it is in the grand scope of things I still have a job to do, and even by taking a step back and trying to look at it with unclouded eyes I am still happy to report the new biographical procedural A Mighty Heart from director Michael Winterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo, 24 Hour Party People) might just be this iconoclastic filmmaker’s best work yet. It is a tense, taut, emotional, moving and downright terrific motion picture, and anyone interested in what freedom of the press really costs should buy their tickets now to watch this stunning cinematic achievement.

Angelina Jolie stars as Mariane, while Dan Futterman (an Oscar nominee for writing Capote) appears fleetingly throughout as her kidnapped Danny. By now, we’ve heard more about Jolie’s life with producer and husband Brad Pitt, about her lawyer’s attempts to have journalists sign waivers to not as the woman question about her personal life and about the children she and Pitt raise while trying to stay out of the continuously prying glare of the paparazzi.

What we have heard very little about is just how good the actress is in the film. Pity, because this is the best performance she’s given since winning an Academy Award for Girl, Interrupted, maybe even since her triumphant and star-making turn in HBO’s sensational biopic Gia. Her presence here is downright incredible, Jolie so confident and self-assured she disappears within the role of Mariane pretty much completely. By the end, I actually forgot who it was I was watching play the part, and if there is a truer testament to this woman’s talent then that I admit to not having the first clue as to what it is.

I was also quite taken with acclaimed character actor Irrfan Khan (The Namesake). Playing the lead Pakistani investigator on the case, with astonishing ease and palpable delicacy he makes his character a truly heroic, maybe even tragically so, individual. Wanting to solve the case, not so much for Mariane (although her familial pain can’t help but rub off on him) but to keep his country from having to go through the national disgrace of being unable to stop Danny’s death, Khan makes the man’s drive for justice a universally affecting one. I wanted him to catch the killers, needed him to save the day, his ultimate inability to do so nearly as crushing for me as it is depicted for him inside the context of the drama.

Winterbottom does a masterful job weaving so many threads and so many tangents into a cohesively engaging whole. The film never drags and I cannot remember a single lull. While I can’t exactly say all of his decisions worked for me (some of the floating back and forth through time was a tad too distracting for my liking) the majority of them certainly do, the film a strongly devastating drama filled with pulsating emotional undercurrents.

But does it offer up the same courage of spirit and rise above the feelings of bitterness and hatred as Mariane’s magnificent memoir did? Not quite, but still close enough I’m not about to complain. Ultimately, A Mighty Heart isn’t about a man’s tragic and undeserved death as it about the beauty of life and power of truth. Danny Pearl died trying to bring truth and understanding to a world in desperate need of both. This movie is a soaring testament to that pursuit and, as such, is a film which simply can’t be missed.

Film Rating:  êêê1/2  (out of 4)