- Pearl Harbor (2001)
- While Pearl Harbor and A Mighty Heart are very different films, there are similarities between the female protagonists, Evelyn and Mariane. Both females are unaware of the truth for the majority of their respective films. Evelyn is under the belief that Rafe is dead; Mariane, on the other hand, thinks her husband is alive. The women are also involved with the battle for their lovers’ lives, except on the sidelines. Evelyn shames a man into allowing her to listen to news from the battle in which Rafe, and the other member of a love triangle named Danny, are involved. Mariane forcefully runs the team attempting to save Danny Pearl’s life. They are not passive, and, instead, they do all they can to know what is happening to their loved ones. Both women are also pregnant, which affects their major choices. Although Evelyn loves Rafe, she originally chooses to leave him on account of her baby, who belongs to Danny. Mariane does not want to eat or take care of herself, but she forces herself to in order for the baby to be healthy. Evelyn and Mariane give birth to healthy baby boys in the end of their respective films. In their sons, Danny and Danny Pearl’s legacy live on. Evelyn names her son after the father, and Rafe teaches him how to fly, since that was important to his biological father. Mariane chooses the name Adam because that was what Danny Pearl wanted. The films end on a hopeful note that the sons will live happy, healthy lives, and their fathers will live on through them.
- The Road to Guantanamo (2006)
- This film -- another docu-drama -- has been considered the first of a sequel-type series that Michael Winterbottom has directed. Winterbottom retells the story of four Pakistani Britons who travelled from Tipton, England, to Pakistan for a wedding. The three main characters, Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal, and Shafiq Rasul (the fourth, Monir, was lost during a bombing attack and never found) were all swept up by the Northern Alliance during Operation Enduring Freedom. After having been captured, they were turned over to the American forces. Following this transfer, the men were taken to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps where they were held for up to three years before being released. When studying A Mighty Heart, it becomes apparent that Daniel Pearl’s captors were concerned for the treatment of their own Pakistani nationalists detained in Guantanamo Bay. Although these three men do not represent that specific group’s allegiance, they were able to relate what exactly they experienced while being detained. According to their interviews during the film, the three Britons were exposed to relentless interrogations, torture, and inhumane behavior. During their detainment they attested to having been isolated for weeks at a time, having been shackled by their hands and knees to the floor in the squatting position (stress position) for hours at a time, and victimized by brutal physical force. By watching this film, the viewer gets another perspective of the geopolitical situation that the world faced post-9/11. Despite Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s claim that the detainees were being treated humanely, this account serves to shed light on how such statements were false. The War on Terror yielded perilously high tensions for all those involved on both sides. The story of The Road to Guantanamo is crucial because it provides an account similar to that of Daniel Pearl’s story in that three men with no military or governmental ties were taken and put into captivity, like him. Luckily for Ruhal, Asif, and Shafiq, they were able to live to tell the story themselves.
See Also
Four Days in September (1998)
Harrison's Flowers (2002)
In This World (2002)
Missing (1982)
State of Siege (1973)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
