Jolie plays slain reporter's wife in harrowing film

CANNES, France, May 21 (Reuters) Angelina Jolie takes on probably her most challenging role to date in a film about Mariane Pearl, wife of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl who was kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic militants in 2002.

''A Mighty Heart'' premiered to the press in Cannes today, and is already one of the most talked about pictures at the film festival this year even though it is outside the main competition.

The movie unites Jolie with her partner Brad Pitt, who is a producer, and is directed by Britain's Michael Winterbottom, who has made films including ''The Road to Guantanamo'' and ''9 Songs''.

It is based on Mariane's book ''A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Daniel Pearl'', which recounts the events leading up to and following Daniel's death when she was around six months pregnant.

The film takes the viewer into the teeming streets of Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, where Daniel was abducted, although the scenes involving Jolie were actually shot in India.

It paints a picture of chaos and confusion as Mariane, Pakistani intelligence, U.S. consulate officials and Daniel's newspaper colleagues seek unsuccessfully to track him down via e-mail and mobile phone trails and old-fashioned police work.

They are up against not only a ruthless and professional group of abductors, but also prejudices in Pakistani society that lead some to speculate that Daniel worked for US or Israeli intelligence and that India was behind the kidnap.

Jolie said she was nervous about getting the part of Mariane right, but that the film had a message that went well beyond the gripping narrative and gut-wrenching finale.

''For me so much of why this film is important today was because I highly doubt there is anybody in this room who has more reason to hold hate inside herself than Mariane, and she doesn't,'' Jolie told a news conference.

''She is a very compassionate, thoughtful person who looks to dialogue to change things, to make things better. That is, I think, a lesson to all of us.'' EXPERIENCE OF MOTHERHOOD Jolie said that being a young mother helped her understand what the French reporter was going through.

''Many people know this story and they forget that Mariane was five and a half months pregnant at the time,'' Jolie said.

''I remember being six months pregnant and thinking, 'I can't imagine at this time not having the father with me,' she added, referring to Pitt, who was sitting close to her.

''As a mother it just made me so much more connected to her and also knowing that carrying that life inside, that little boy that's half Danny, that is so amazing.'' The Pearls' child Adam was born after Daniel's death, and Mariane dedicated her book to her son so he could know his father was ''an ordinary hero with a mighty heart.'' Mariane steered clear of describing her feelings in any detail, but said she was grateful that Jolie, who has become a good friend, took on the part.

Jolie, one of the most famous faces in the world who is hounded by photographers and cameramen wherever she goes, said that during the making of the film she had learned to respect journalists more.

She also said that ''A Mighty Heart'' did not signal a shift away from comic or action roles for which she is best known, and that she would try and combine serious and light cinema.

(Please visit our Cannes site, including a link to our blogs, on http://uk.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/cannesFestival) Reuters RJ DB1918