Passion, Corruption in Troubled Land Passion, Corruption in
Troubled Land
Movie Review of 'The Constant Gardner'
Volume 75, Number 35
| September 1 - 7,
2005FILMTHE
CONSTANT GARDENERDirected by
Fernando MeirellesDistributed by
Focus FeaturesClearview Chelsea,
Cobble Hill
CinemasJaap
BuitendijkRalph Fiennes (left) plays
Justin Quayle, a British diplomat searching for answers about the death
of his wife, and Pete Postlethwaite is the
doctor who knows too much, seen here in a climactic
scenefrom Fernando Meirelles’
“The Constant
Gardener.”Passion,
Corruption in Troubled
LandFernando
Meirelles’ new film examines corrosive impact of greed and
doubtBy SETH J.
BOOKEYThe many issues plaguing the
African continent makes it a natural setting for conflict, both political and
personal, and the new film “The Constant Gardener” skillfully
combines both. The film is based on the John Le Carre novel, but the story of a
diplomat’s wife working to expose large pharmaceutical companies using
Africans as guinea pigs does not play out at a potboiler plotted to turn pages;
news like this could conceivably come out of almost any African country
today.The film begins with British
diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) learning of the death of his wife Tessa
(Rachel Weisz) and her traveling companion, leaving him to investigate not only
why she died but also whether or not she really loved him. Consequently, the
story unfolds in a series of flashbacks. We see how Tessa meets Justin in London
and in short order become lovers and marry. Because the flashbacks are not in
chronological order, we learn whether this was a love match or merely a marriage
of convenience in the same way Justin
does.Tessa’s actions early in the
film certainly suggest that she may have been much more interested in using
Justin to get to Kenya than in being his wife. The film’s title refers to
Justin’s hobby, gardening, in which he is involved at the moment we meet
him as he learns of Tessa’s death. His interest in botany underscores a
sheltered quality in Justin, a surprising characteristic for someone who is
supposed to be worldly, but as a diplomat, Justin is typically expected to
parrot his government’s
policies.When Tessa meets him as he
delivers a speech on behalf of a more senior diplomat, he is flustered when
asked for his own opinion on a subject. The political and personal are
juxtaposed in this film in very much the way they were by Hitchcock. As Justin
begins to investigate his wife’s activities, he soon finds himself in as
much danger as she had been. Not unlike Cary Grant’s Roger Thornhill in
“North By Northwest,” Ralph Fiennes’ dapper, proper Quayle is
forced to get his hands dirty. He starts out perfectly pressed but by the end of
his investigation, he’s a sweaty, rumpled mess, the price for living in
reality.The film’s casting works
perfectly. Ralph Fiennes conveys a certain wide-eyed innocence at first, giving
way to anger and frustration as he comes to terms with what his wife might have,
and might not have, done. Rachel Weisz exudes seductiveness; just put her next
to any man on screen and you immediately suspect she’s up to something.
Danny Huston, as a fellow diplomat named
Sandy, is smitten with Tessa and she seems willing to bargain sexually, if
necessary, to expose the pharmaceutical giant’s crimes. Huston plays the
two-faced lothario quite well. Pete Postlethwaite is perfectly cast as a doctor
who knows too much, giving Fiennes a worthy screen partner in the film’s
best confrontation.Director Fernando
Meirelles, nominated for an Oscar for “City of God,” uses the
film’s locations to his advantage. The drab grayness of London and Berlin
is contrasted to the vibrant colors of Kenya, where Tessa seems happiest. Since
the story alternates between Tessa’s past and Justin’s present
search for what happened, revealing information at just the right time is
crucial, and Meirelles keeps the right pace. For most of the film, you’re
never completely sure what Tessa’s real motivations were, an essential
element in maintaining the dramatic tension. The underlying conflict over
Tessa’s loyalties also lends the drama a critical human dimension, putting
“The Constant Gardener” in a league with Hitchcock’s film,
rather than it being a 007 movie with a high-minded
storyline.Africa is a major character in
the film as well. When Tessa loses her own baby during childbirth, she
breastfeeds a child whose mother is too sick to do so on her own. Meirelles uses
crowd scenes to show the rich chaos of the African marketplace, as well as quite
literally the street theater. Early on, we see a snippet of a play about AIDS
being performed al fresco, one that proffers the naive fear that you can catch
HIV from sneezes. The film also suggests the everyday dangers of African life,
where murder sometimes results from conflict over a mere pittance, never mind a
pharmaceutical windfall.In the
film’s one gay surprise, Tessa has to point out that homosexuality is
“ illegal here.”“The
Constant Gardener” is a nice entry into what has been a rather
undistinguished summer season for Hollywood. Fiennes, Weisz, and Meirelles all
put in Oscar-worthy work here, so it’s a surprise this movie is not being
released later in the year. Perhaps a tale of large drug manufacturers
shortchanging African patients will be deemed too political, but the film
manages to deploy the thriller format to educate as well as entertain, something
we don’t often expect Hollywood to do.
Posted: Sat
- September 3, 2005 at 01:22 AM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:03 PM
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