Mother Superior

Mercy among the children: Angelina Jolie meets children at the Tham Hin refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border on May 19, 2002. Photo Sukree Sukplang/AFP/Getty Images.

As you may have heard, Tom Cruise and his fiancée, Katie Holmes, recently had a baby — an event Cruise marked by loud whooping every time he was in the vicinity of a camera. But the media dervish surrounding the hatching of baby Suri was soon surpassed by the only celebrity event that could outmatch it: the arrival of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, the long-awaited addition to “the world’s most beautiful family.” Little Shiloh is, of course, the product of the inhumanly hot coupling of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt — the first relationship of Pitt’s in which he’s the homely one. He’s also the less interesting of the two; like Holmes, Pitt’s role is strictly a supporting one.

The couple’s prenatal stay in Namibia was likely Jolie’s idea — her work as the goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees brought her frequently to the continent, as did the adoption of her Ethiopian daughter, Zahara. No doubt Jolie, too, was behind the ingenious scheme to auction the first photos of Shiloh to the highest bidder — People magazine — and donate all the money to charity.

For mere mortals, accepting bids on baby pics seems kind of crass, but in the universe where paparazzi orbit the planet Brangelina, the rules are a little different. Someone stood to earn a fortune from the first images of Shiloh, so why not make an end run around the media, generate several million dollars for a good cause and embarrass your critics into silence? (Because really, when Britney Spears treats her baby like an airbag, who’s going to snark about Brangelina exploiting the public’s fascination to raise money for charity?)

Like Tom Cruise, Jolie’s personal life has eclipsed her on-screen work. But while Cruise’s madman grin and “spontaneous” euphoria feels choreographed down to the last couch-jump, Jolie is entirely uncalculated and seemingly oblivious to the opinions of others. Uninterested in polishing her image, she refuses to employ a publicist. She’s rarely spotted on the red carpet and doesn’t follow fashion trends. Off-the-cuff comments in past interviews, along with some unbridled public antics, have contributed to Jolie’s reputation as a brother-kissing, blood-loving, bisexual vamp. She is almost universally lusted after, but doesn’t fit easily into contemporary celebrity culture. She is too gorgeous, too weird, too unconventional.

As an actor, her utter fearlessness has stymied directors and screenwriters. No one has fully tapped into the gravity and intelligence under her wildness, leaving her to languish in such forgettable dreck as Gone in 60 Seconds and The Bone Collector. Thus far, Jolie’s intensity has been channelled into characters that are either unhinged, slutty or freaky — her best turns include the drug-addicted supermodel in Gia, the captivating sociopath in Girl, Interrupted and Billy Bob Thornton’s free-spirited wife in Pushing Tin. Even when she plays an animated character, as in Shark Tale, it’s a fish fatale: all lips, eyebrows and curves. And when she assumes the “wife” role, as in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it’s a wife who also happens to be an assassin.

Referring to Last Tango in Paris, legendary New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael once said of Jolie: “My God, this girl could play both the Brando and Maria Schneider roles!” Marlon Brando may be the actor Jolie can best be compared to — they share that raw sexuality, the paradoxically overpowering vulnerability and a total lack of embarrassment. No one in Hollywood is writing scripts like On the Waterfront for 30-year-old women these days, but it’s fun to imagine what demented, dark brilliance might occur if Jolie were paired with Spain’s Pedro Almodovar or France’s François Ozon — both of whom have been known to drag their divas through literal and figurative mud.

The new face of diplomacy: Jolie, trailed by beau Brad Pitt, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2006. Photo Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images.

Despite a wild past and a spotty film career, Jolie has emerged as the most intriguing and substantial woman in Hollywood. A survivor of celebrity parentage — Nicole Richie, honey, please take note — Angelina has overcome a serious drug flirtation and endured two divorces. She’s staring down the vicissitudes of aging in the entertainment industry without the benefit of botox, kabbalah or an extreme workout regime. Her charity work is of the hands-on sort — no rehearsed appearances at a Hurricane Katrina benefit followed by a weepy kaffeeklatsch with Oprah. Since 2001, Jolie has slept in tents in refugee camps, assisted with the distribution of food and medicine and taken on the very unsexy cause of education for girls in the Third World. Try to picture any other actress her age attending a session called “Getting the Millennium Development Goals Back on Track” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In fact, stack her up against Pitt’s previous flames and one imagines a very one-sided lunch at which Jolie brings Juliette Lewis up to speed on debt relief, convinces Jennifer Aniston to forgive and forget and afterwards picks her teeth with Gwyneth Paltrow.

It’s not surprising that as the obsession with celebrity babies (celebabies?) has reached its pinnacle, Jolie has managed to be part of it without being caught up in it. She’s eschewed $300 Marc Jacobs cashmere kiddie hoodies for getting tattoos of the longitude and latitude of her kids’ birthplaces. And she’s raising her multicultural brood largely removed from the gross excesses of celebrity life — jewel-covered binky notwithstanding. Whether this new, mature, earth mother version of Angelina will translate into better roles on-screen is still unknown. What is certain is that Mama Angelina probably doesn’t care one bit either way.

Rachel Giese writes about the arts for CBC.ca.

CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window.

Letters

Your article on Angelina Jolie was so well written, it put into clear words what opinion I was trying to form about her. I did not like her and did not know why. Perhaps it's because she is so complex as a person that she is hard to pin down and somewhat scary. Perhaps it's that she is so perfect. I now realize that she is a force to be recognized with, a fiercely independent woman who doesn't care what others think, a blend between Mother Theresa (heart, hard working), Audrey Hepburn (beauty, grace under pressure, unselfishness) and a rock star (unconventional, fearless, brash). All in one package. Not bad.

N. Wyss
Burlington, Ontario