On the heels of A Mighty Heart comes British/Pakistani director Jamil Dehlavi’s (Jinnah, Immaculate Conception) sprawling, complex, ultimately masterful take on the Daniel Pearl case. After losing his sister in 9/11, broadcast journalist Arnold Silverman (Kevin Collins) attempts to unravel the events behind the tragedy, winding up kidnapped in Pakistan for asking one question too many. Deftly shifting Syriana-style between continents and timeframes, the film also takes a dispassionate look at the radicalisation of educated British Muslim youth. Dehlavi juxtaposes news footage with stunning, sometimes grisly imagery, creating a mood of palpable danger. But the heart of the film is the verbal sparring (and extended chess match) between Silverman and his captor Kamal Khan (Raza Jaffrey, neatly encapsulating the ongoing debate about terrorism and its causes.
