Political journalists Mariane and Daniel Pearl were working in Pakistan and awaiting the birth of their first child when he went missing - kidnapped, as it transpired, by the Islamic fundamentalists whose networks he was attempting to penetrate. Shot in close-up documentary style, Michael Winterbottom's stunning film recounts the frenzied efforts by US and Pakistani authorities to establish the facts of Pearl's disappearance and negotiate for his release. At the eye of the storm is Mariane, played with career-defining force by Angelina Jolie, as a woman striving against unimaginable odds to keep her dignity, hope and health intact. Winterbottom here extends the parameters of an already extraordinary directing career, while Jolie proves that she need never again be judged solely on her remarkable looks.