| Product: |
The Constant Gardener (DVD) |
| Date: |
27/04/06 (149 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Beautiful, moving , thrilling film
Disadvantages: Not for everyone
When gentle diplomat Justin Quayle is asked to present to a group of students, he is unprepared for the pointed questioning that he is to receive at the hands of one of the audience members named Tessa. The fiery young woman is unable to stop herself ranting and raving at the bemused man until everyone else has left the room. But far from being angry or embarrassed, Justin is more concerned to see that the young girl is clearly upset, and goes over to see if she is OK. After a moment of tenderness, the couple goes for a drink and within hours a passionate relationship has commenced. Weeks later, when Justin is sent to work in Africa, Tessa pleads with him to take her and before he knows what he has let himself in for, Justin agrees.
The couple’s happiness is, sadly, short-lived. Tessa becomes more and more distracted by secret business and spends more time with her friend Arnold, hidden away talking about things of which Justin knows nothing. As he tends his garden, Justin can feel his wife drifting away from him. And then one day, she is gone. Her body is found burnt and mutilated in the wreckage of a jeep, found off a remote road. Her companion Arnold is nowhere to be found. Was this just a tragic accident or was there more to this “accident” than anyone realises? Overwhelmed with grief, Justin sets about trying to find out, but even he is unprepared for the conspiracy that is to unravel before his very eyes…..
Based on the classic novel by John Le Carre, The Constant Gardener is one of those rare cinema treats; a thriller that thrills without big budget special effects or stunts but simply by being intriguing, enthralling and beautifully atmospheric. I loved this film. I loved this film more than any that I have seen for a long time. It made me think. And that has to be a good film.
The African setting is used to stunning effect, both to provide a beautiful, natural backdrop to the drama but also to highlight the world as it really is, as opposed to how Hollywood would like us to see it. As a heavily pregnant Tessa wanders through the African streets, poverty is everywhere. It isn’t depressing or disturbing. It isn’t portrayed to shock us into action. It’s simply very matter of fact, because poverty has become matter of fact. As children play in the dirty streets, Tessa engages the local people who have become her friends, squealing in delight when one of the children brings her a hand made toy for the new family member; reeling in shock as more of her friends are diagnosed with HIV. There are astounding contrasts everywhere. Huge flocks of birds swoop gracefully across a skyline that pans down to reveal the charred remains of a human body. Misery is on every face and yet local people screech with laughter as street players somehow manage to re-enact a comedy drama about the onset of AIDS in their families. It is really quite remarkable.
The Constant Gardener is a story about corruption. In this film pretty much everyone is corrupt. The corrupt governments cover up grossly corrupt corporations who trade human lives for hard cash as though they were a disposable commodity. Corrupt politicians turn a blind eye for personal, material wealth and neither the police nor the military are to be trusted. It is such a twisted viper’s pit of wrongdoing that quiet diplomat Justin Quayle at once seems out of his depth. A deeply considerate and thoughtful man (whilst identifying his wife’s body, it is he who comforts others) The Constant Gardener charts his journey from blissful ignorance into acute awareness of what is going on around him. He’s an immensely likeable character. The audience really feels the loss of his wife; sharing his obvious grief when the news is first broken and fairly willing him to succeed thereafter. You know that he is never going to chase, fight or use action-packed stunts to bring down the bad guys, but you feel assured that he will succeed nonetheless. The Constant Gardener is never an exciting movie but it is still gripping from start to finish; testament to the fact that you can hold the audience’s attention without resorting to flashy gimmicks.
Not surprisingly, the film is a shocking one, in a number of different ways. (The film is a 15 certificate.) The brutality of Tessa’s death is itself, very unsettling. We never know for sure what happened, but as we see a charred and bloodied hand hanging from the side of the mortuary trolley, we can’t help imagining the trauma of this beautiful, intelligent woman. But this is just the start. The plight of the African people is terrible. Ravaged by AIDS and HIV, they must contend with a corrupt militia, a government that denies them aid and the horrors of roving bandits who will abduct their young children to suffer unmentioned atrocities. And at the centre of much of this lies the greed of the West, preying on the vulnerability and plight of the African people. Whilst the identity of the corporation featured in the film may be fictional, its similarity to so many real companies is inescapable and the film could so easily be based entirely on factual events. My knowledge of business ethics is shallow at best, but you cannot deny the very powerful message behind this film.
The story telling style is entirely effective. Director Fernando Meirelles (who directed the acclaimed City of God) pieces together a compelling tale by combining flashbacks, and scenes set in real time. It’s never confusing. It isn’t intended to be a cunning style that will impress with its flair and imagination. It’s simply an extremely effective way of using the past to demonstrate the despair of the present. In between the scenes of Quayle meeting his young wife for the first time, we see him receiving the news that she is dead. As we chart their romance, he identifies her body. It is powerful stuff, and rightly so.
As Justin Quayle, Ralph Fiennes excels in a completely understated way. Gentle, quiet and thoughtful, he is at once a character with whom the audience will sympathise, but we also find ourselves willing him to bring about justice for his wife. As the film progresses, Fiennes truly comes into his own. As his wife Tessa, Rachel Weisz is outstanding. Fiery, passionate, compelling and above all convincing, the flashbacks and historical story telling mean that she is in the film rather longer than you would expect, given that you know of her death in the first five minutes. Tessa really comes across as a character with conviction; somebody who really believes in what she is saying. It is hard not to grieve her death, as we genuinely share Justin’s loss. The supporting cast is excellent too, with Bill Nighy characteristically untrustworthy and Pete Postlethwaite as a strange, but convincing local doctor.
By the time The Constant Gardener had finished, I was gutted. This wasn’t because I’d just watched a bad film – far from it. I was gutted about how bloody horrible the world is today and just how convincingly Fernando Meirelles had portrayed this. But I wasn’t depressed. For every misery, Meirelles produced something to make you smile or something to make you care. A film goer probably couldn’t ask for anything else.
Highly recommended
Summary: Excellent thriller that combines a powerful story with moving performances from its leading couple
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