he world was riveted in January and Feb- ntary 2OO2 when 38- year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kid- napped by terrorists in Pakistan and bru- tally murdered.</p><p> Footage of his execution spread worldwide via the Internet, giving the tragedy a macabre 2Ist-century spin.</p><p> But the film'AMighty Heart," based on the memoir of his widow, feltow journal- ist Mariane Pearl, offers a story of hope rather than hate Opening Friday, it shows Mariane - played by Angelina Jolie - six months pregnant and su[ounded by strangers, people of differ ent faiths and backgrounds. all coming together to try to rescue Daniel after his kidnapping Even in despair, Mariane finds some- thing positive - linking her cry of pain at the news of Daniel's death to the cries of pain and happiness while laler giving birth to their son, Adam Even in the dark- esl moments.</p><p> Mariane insists on seeing light That, above aU, is what drove Jolie to be involved "Mariane, under the most extraordi- nary circumstances, remained very fo- cused on even having sympathy for the other side, even after they did that to her husbmd," says Jolie, interuiewed at thec.,l F{ =oz oz .nCOVER STORY '' F o 3oc oE c a3 Ez = ro N r d c ! cCmnes Film Festival last month "And I'm sure she felt all that we would ex- pect her to feel But somehow, on top of that, she managed to rise above it " Jolie and her partnet Brad Pitt, had optioned the book when it was in galleys to develop as a film The two have used their lives to further their causes (when Pitt went to Africa, he took Diane Sawyer and ABC with him, deciding that if cameras are going to follow him everywhere, he might as well get them to look at some of the world's problems) After Huricme Ka-trina, the couple purchased a home in still-devastated New Orleans The deci sion by Jolie to give birth to her daugh- ter, Shiloh, now a year old, in Namibia, made worldwide headlines Now they're tuming their art toward life with "A Mighty Heart." Yes, the film will re- mind Hollywood that, de- spite "Alexander" and the 2005 summer hit "Mr and Mrs Smith," Jolie is a seri- ous, Oscar-winning actress - 7 but she has higher goals. "I hope heoplel read Mari- ane's book, first of all," says the 32 year-old actress "I hope they basically get to know her and I hope they look utefore the movie of "A lvtighty Heart," and even before the book, actress Angelina Jolie and reporter N4ariane Pearl reached out to one anothe[ Pearl's story - a woman in Pakistan pregnant with her first child suffers the nightmare scenario of watching as her journalist huslland is kidnapped and publically murdered - had riveted people across the globe.</p><p> Daniel Pearl's beheading was a flashpoint of politics and inhumanity, cruelty and terrorism Jolie saw a single mother clinging to hope amid despair "Their friendship predates the film and the book,,' says "Mighty Heart" co-producer Dede Gardner, who runs plan B.</p><p> Brad Pitt's production company.</p><p> Pitt had bought Mariane pearl's book as a movie project prior to Jolle's first meeting the actor on 2005's "Mr and Mrs Smith" "They shtre similaf [views] about how they live their lives and how they parent their kids.</p><p> And they were both single moms lat the time, Jolie had a year-old adopted son, N,4addoxl; it was a very natural union.</p><p> And that got reinforced as they got to know each other befte[" Director t\,4ichael Winterbottom saw lolie embody her friend on-camera and o1f 'Angelina seemed to have the same relationship to the other actors on the set that Mariane had to the Deople in the house lin Pakistan],'' says Winterbottom- "Everyone in the house with l,4ariane said to me that Mariane really brought together the team and made them feel good about what they were doing That's what Angelina did on the set We had a lot of nonprofessional actors from Pakistan, people from lndia, Britain, America - and she always behaved like she was absolutely one ofthe team and created a really friendly, family atmosphere on the set" Watching iolie and Pearl side by side when the movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, it's evident how protective and proud Jolie is of Pearl and her ability to send out a message of hope and compassion in the wake of her husband's murder.</p><p> And when the two women are together, as they were at Cannes, their similarities become clealFru) atc I zo€ oo -ot- o3"When | first met Angelina, it was with Mariane," says Winterbottom. "We spent two or three days talking.</p><p> I saw how close they were, and how clearly Mariane wanted her to play the part They seemed to trust each other, and that was a lcrucial] starting point.,, In terms of her physical performance, perhaps the trickiest aspect of the role for lolie was Pearl's accent. which combines Cuban, English and her native French into its own unique sound. "l studied her accent," says Jolie- "lt's a really hard accent.</p><p> And the way she speaks - she has a rhlthm. tt was stange because Iwas breaking down the voice of a friend " But Jolie did much more than simply mimic pearl (and in fact admits she's too shy to do the accent in front of her); she got to know her emotions, her way of seeing the world And Pearl's approval of the film, Jolie says, was the most impoftant asoect of it all for her "l do see more her than me now," says .Jolie about watchlng the frlm. "But maybe that's because t\,4ariane told me she thought it was good She has given me her blessing." a Michaelcilz Danny's old afticles and read about him "But also I think there rs a bigger mes- sage in this We are at a time in our lives where there is so much fear and there is so much anger And it's hard for people to calm down enough lo focus on having a dialogue and understanding the ftlll infor- mation, and tlylng to have a real compre- hensive approach to f,ndsolutions And I think Marime is a great example of that " For director Michael .winter bottom ('Welcome to Sarajevo," "The Road to Guantanamo"), the goal was to have a documentary-like focus on the facts of what happened in the tense days when Daniel might still have been saved "We talked to other people who were linvolved]," says Winterbottom "But Mar-iane did a great job of telling the story in " the book She gave us the story inside her house of this small group of people who became friends, and just enough of the in- vestigation and what Pakistan was like " As for Jolie, being faithful to Mariane's story was easy. "The book is beautiful," she says "Dan- uy was very much in love with Mariane, and Mariane was very much in love with Damy.</p><p> They both would have been great parents togetheL He spoke to her tummy Iand their soon-to-be-born child] probably every day she was pregnilt, and notjust the day he left " Jolie sincerely hopes the film's blunt^ ness about the facts of the case won't im- pede her desire to continue humanitarianefforts in the Middle East Longbe- fore the film was in the works, she and Pitt visited Pakistan after a dev- astating earthquake, in the hope of refocusing media attention on that country's plight "I think it's a very balanced film, md I don't think t here's any rea- son lo feel that any one group is go- ing to be so upset about this and feel that way," says Jolie "It does make me want to go back there all the more, and I miss it I've been there three times and have a deep love for that part of the world, and I'm very saddened to see how every day it seems to be breaking more md nlore apart." a= zn{ @ f o o c a o ! 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