Daniel Pearl is known to the world as the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002-four months after 9/11. The fact that his horrifying beheading is recorded on video makes me feel sick. Daniel Pearl’s death is a good example of the dangerous side of a journalist’s life-a death which shook the world. It definitely awakened public concerns on the effects of terrorism AND the high price of truth. Pearl went to Pakistan to find out the truth about Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, who allegedly had links with Al Qaeda.
Pearl’s widow, Mariane Pearl, wrote a memoir called “A Mighty Heart” which tells the full story of her husband’s kidnapping and about his life. The book was adapted into a film which was released last year starring Angelina Jolie, who played the role of Mariene Pearl and Dan Futterman, as Daniel Pearl.
Just four months after the horrific kidnapping and beheading of Daniel Pearl, Tim Lopes of Globo TV, who had been investigating drugs and under-age sex in a Rio de Janeiro slum, endured the exact same fate but without the same outcry. It brings me to a statement by former editor of Sunday Times and The Times, Sir Harold Evans, in which he claims that unless the life lost is that of a well-known Western correspondent, the world barely notices.
Here is the trailer for the film “A Mighty Heart.” It’s received generally very positive reviews and it’s a must-see for those interested in the story of Daniel Pearl. Ok, so I actually haven’t seen it myself, but I plan to see it very soon because it actually does look good. Rent it. Watch it.
