Siddhartha Banerjee

I usually like serious and relevant cinema. So this was my obvious pick in a long flight back home. I have to apologize that I was not aware of this movie being released near the end of last year ... else I would surely have watched it before. In any case, this was a captivating piece of direction, screenplay, script and off course superb acting by all actors, however big or small their part is. Though Rosamund Pike's role as Marie Colvin was the centre piece ... I think Tom Hollander as the headline hungry editor and and Jamie Dornan's role as a free lance photographer looking to make his mark in a fiercely competetive field contributed towards making Pike's role so compelling. Stanley Tucci brought out the feminine insecurities in a woman who otherwise seems invincible, obsessed (I do think this was far beyond passion) and can be considered as one of loose morale ... by those with a more traditional value system. But more than all this ... it was a journey where I felt I was part of Marie's adventures and most of the time kept thinking how she dealt with all of that in real life, because my life is so so far from hers and it would be presumptous to even think "I could identify" with all of that. A must watch and I do hope this movie will get its share of recognition and accolades. But this isn't stuff for the faint hearted ... some of the scenes were as real as it gets and quite gruesome.