Angelina Jolie eager to return to Pakistan
Angelina Jolie is hoping that today's release of A Mighty Heart, the film about the kidnapping of Jewish-American journalist Daniel Pearl, will not affect her travel for the United Nations.
"I hope not," Jolie said last month in an interview in Cannes. "But we shall see. We'll see if I get my next visa to Pakistan. I think I should. I think it's a very balanced film. I don't think there is any reason to feel that any one group is going to be upset about this and think that way."
The film, directed by Briton Michael Winterbottom and produced by Jolie's lover Brad Pitt, is a procedural thriller that shows how a disparate group of Pakistanis, Indians and Americans unite to try to save Pearl before Islamic terrorists butcher him. Without commentary, the film also shows the labyrinth of racial, religious and political conflicts in the Middle East and south Asia.
"It does make me want to go back there all the more," Jolie said of Pakistan, where most of the film is set, primarily in the teeming, chaotic city of Karachi.
Winterbottom shot in Pakistan, in India (for the Pearl house, headquarters for the search effort) and in France (where the then-pregnant Mariane Pearl returned to live after this ordeal).
"I miss (Pakistan)," Jolie said. "I have been there three times and I have a deep love for that part of the world, and I'm very saddened by how every day it seems to breaking more and more apart."
Jolie and Winterbottom said that the film, based on the autobiographical book by Mariane Pearl, is largely accurate.
"It is just beautiful," Jolie said of the sad, yet inspirational saga, "and the story is what it is and these people who came together in this house were of many different faiths. We didn't have to create that. They did become friends, deep, deep friends who are still very close today."
STYLE
Winterbottom said the film dictated the style. "We tried to just tell the story as simply as possible. So what you see is our best effort to be as accurate as possible."
When he shot in India for five weeks, Winterbottom minimized the lights, used handheld cameras and filmed in chronological order. He said it was to encourage the actors to parallel the creation of the team spirit that occurred in real life -- the heart of the film's story.
In life, Mariane Pearl brought the team together, Winterbottom said. For the film, "Angie had to play a similar role to Mariane in the house. She was fantastic at making everyone feel part of a group, part of a family, despite the fact that everyone came from such different backgrounds."
Source: http://www.edmontonsun.com/
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