"A Mighty Heart" finds actress Angelina Jolie almost completely disappearing into the role of Mariane Pearl, the wife of slain American journalist Daniel Pearl.

In fact, if not for her characteristic, bee-stung lips, you might forget you're watching one of the world's most famous, glamorous stars.

As impressive as Jolie's transformation is, the film's real star is director Michael Winterbottom, who never lets the high-profile actress overwhelm his film, which is more of a character piece than a kidnapping drama.

"A Mighty Heart" looks at the 2002 kidnapping incident from the perspective of Mariane, who was pregnant with the couple's child at the time.

Mariane and her husband Daniel (Dan Futterman) are working as journalists in Pakistan when he fails to return from an interview, and she begins to panic. Once it's confirmed that he has been kidnapped, it becomes a race against time, as U.S. government and Pakistani investigators try to find the people who ordered the kidnapping.

Filmmaker Winterbottom and screenwriter John Orloff are able to generate some suspense, which is surprising, since the outcome is well-known.

They also tease that Daniel Pearl may have accidentally let information slip out about his Jewish heritage, and throw in a few jabs at prisoner abuses and torture at the Guantanamo Bay military facility (a subject that Winterbottom has already dealt with in a couple of smaller features).

Jolie sports a convincing French accent (Mariane is of French-Cuban descent), and the supporting cast is terrific. Futterman and Will Patton both get to contribute, though the most memorable turn may be that of Indian star Irfan Khan, who plays a local police captain leading the investigation.

"A Mighty Heart" is rated R for a few scenes of strong violence (newsreel footage of warfare, as well as shootings), strong sexual profanity, slurs based on ethnicity and nationality, a scene of torture and interrogation, a brief sex scene, brief drug references, some crude slang and a brief childbirth scene. Running time: 103 minutes.

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