THE CONSTANT GARDENER
**** out of *****

Genre
Business 
Drama
Politics
Thriller

2005
Directed by
Fernando Meirelles
Written by
John le Carré (novel)
Jeffrey Caine (screenplay)
Cast
Ralph Fiennes .... Justin Quayle
Rachel Weisz .... Tessa Quayle
Hubert Koundé .... Arnold Bluhm
Danny Huston .... Sandy Woodrow
Daniele Harford .... Miriam
Packson Ngugi .... Officer in Morgue
Damaris Itenyo Agweyu .... Jomo's Wife
Bernard Otieno Oduor .... Jomo
Bill Nighy .... Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Keith Pearson .... Porter Coleridge
John Sibi-Okumu .... Dr. Joshua Ngaba

It seems to be the year of the Hollywood political thriller. And far from the bad ol' days of Tom Clancy's action bang-ups with dubiously motivated foreign terrorists invading American soil, the major political thrillers from Hollywood today (Munich (2005) and Syriana (2005) amongst others) seem to have their sights squarely pointed at the home turf. It's simplistic to equate this with unease with current geopolitical movements, but with such enormous shifts in thinking about government, business and international politics taking place every day, it's hard to dismiss the link between the current US Administration's low approval ratings and the trend to fuse polemic and narrative by Hollywood filmmakers.

And while Fernando Meirelles adaptation of John le Carré's The Constant Gardener has the UK administration in its sights, its major target is Big Pharma, whose multinational roots make it a global issue. Using the fractured narrative style that he employed so skilfully in his directorial debut City of God (2002), Meirelles chronicles Justin Quayles (Ralph Fiennes) search for his wife Tessa's (Rachel Weisz) murderer, while uncovering a much larger plot to use the African population as testers for new drugs. Inter-cutting between their meeting and his investigation, Meirelles foregrounds Justin and Tessa's relationship, leading Justin into the heart of darkness so to speak, and illuminating the path of righteousness his wife so vehemently seeks to preserve.

I'll be the first to admit that while City of God was a slick, brilliantly edited film, it veered towards exploitation occasionally, and belied Meirelles mastery over the medium rather than his command of ethical storytelling. Thankfully then, Meirelles seems to have curtailed his tricks and played the story straight, never once opting for style over substance. Considering his selection for this big budget adaptation was probably based on the worldwide success of City of God, he's resiled himself to the importance of its story with remarkable maturity.

Still there is the occasional smack of Western interpretation at play here. The African's are still largely romanticised figures who stereotypically silently accept their fate at the hands of British conglomerates, or as the case may be, are blissfully unaware of their plight until Westerners point it out to them. And while genuine African films about their country are shamefully left undistributed, try and see Moolaadé (2004) or Tsotsi (2005) rather than Hotel Rwanda (2004). The fact that some films are at least attempting to show the impact of western colonisation on African nations is noteworthy, and is a far cry from the days of The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980). And while the emotional devastation of Justin's quest is so heartbreaking, its easy to forget the hordes of poverty stricken African's in the background of this film who don't have the luxury of heartfelt reprisals or even retribution against the big corporations which impact their lives so profoundly. In the end, the only sour note the film hits is its slightly easy resolution, which allocates blame on a handful of single greedy individuals rather than the bigger institutions around them.

In my humble opinion, the film that most effectively captures the complexity of globalisation in its field is Steve Gaghan's Syriana, but The Constant Gardener is certainly the film with the most heart, which beats along thanks to the superb performances from its leads. Weisz is becoming a versatile leading lady, who haunts this film in every frame, while Fiennes, who has always managed to unassumingly command the screen turns in another understated performance that manages to convey every possible emotion, without ever becoming 'showy'.

If anything, this year's batch of political thrillers have reinvigorated the possibilities of narrative cinema alongside its documentary counterparts. With far reaching distribution and worldwide exposure, films like The Constant Gardener are less temporary diversions and instead, startlingly effective political messages, which manage to convey so much more than a politician ever could.

Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here.

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