The voice has stayed with Rosamund Pike. For the new movie “A Private War,” the British actress transformed her posh, rounded speech into a distinctive American rasp, to play Marie Colvin, the Long Island-raised, London-based journalist who was killed in Syria in 2012. On tough occasions, Pike still imagines using her tone: It suggests a woman who gets things done.

That voice, along with the patch Colvin wore after she lost an eye to a grenade in Sri Lanka, became her calling cards as she catapulted into war zones around the world, and wrote deeply felt, courageously reported articles for The Sunday Times in London. “A Private War,” due Nov. 2, aims to realistically portray her struggles and explain why she persisted. And it could have scarcely arrived at a more apt, and fraught, time.

“This movie has all Marie’s gestures and movements,” the CNN and PBS anchor Christiane Amanpour, who knew Colvin, wrote in an email. “She was killed, probably directly targeted, for getting the truth out about the Syria war. It’s especially relevant given the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi this month. He too was simply speaking the truth.”

Colvin’s story — her rise as an international correspondent reporting on conflicts in the Middle East, the Balkans and elsewhere; her bravery going into hostile territory to document the civilian cost of war; and ultimately, her death while covering a relentless battle in Homs — is in some ways tailor-made for the big screen. She was undeniably gutsy but suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological and physical ills from witnessing so much trauma. She was also witty, gregarious and stylish: a natural cinematic heroine.