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The Constant Gardener (2005)

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From Time Out London

The Brazilian co-director of ‘City of God’ has chosen an English-language adaptation of a John le Carré novel for his second feature and manages, against all the odds, to spin a wild yarn about the British High Commission in Kenya and its relationship to a corrupt pharmaceutical firm into a sweeping, stylish and relevant thriller that has its feet firmly on the ground and a heart that offers a tender take on its spy-thriller origins.

Two other recent attempts to address the flip-side of modern global politics in mainstream drama – Richard Curtis’s television film ‘The Girl in the Café’ and Sydney Pollack’s ‘The Interpreter’ – were spectacular failures; the first ignored the drama, the second forgot the facts. Here, Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) is an unremarkable British diplomat; a reliable, if unadventurous, sort who is posted to Kenya soon after meeting Tessa (Rachel Weisz), an attractive activist he meets when she interrupts one of his dry lectures in London. They fall in love (her spontaneity amuses and complements his civil service sensibility), marry quickly and move to Africa – but Tessa dies in a mysterious car crash while travelling in a remote part of the country. Her suspicious death – revealed very early in the film – prompts Justin to investigate and allows Meirelles to leap back and forth in time, between London and Kenya, to tell of their relationship and the reality behind this tragedy.

Meirelles overcomes the complex (and not entirely digestible) intrigue of le Carré’s plot by paying close attention to the details of both character and location. He doesn’t reduce the high-level shenanigans, but instead adds intimacy and a breathless, jigsaw approach to story-telling. What emerges is an intimate, unlikely love story and a stimulating portrait of the contrast between existing communities and the cold bureaucracy of political and corporate interests in the developing world.

The sum of the parts of ‘The Constant Gardener’ is not entirely successful – there’s conflict between the finer points of the political thriller element and its parallel love story – but the parts themselves are so well-crafted that its themes translate well and it always engages, not least when stylishly packaged with Meirelles’ patchwork narrative style. And on a purely visual level, this portrait of Kenya – from remote barren landscapes to the slums of Kibera – is stunning.

Author: DC

Time Out London Issue 1838: November 9-16 2005

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User reviews of this film

Hoi Poloi said...

Posted on Oct 11 2009 12:55 Similar to The English Patient, but more focused and intimate. Fiennes tracks his wife's murderers, all the while suspecting her of having had an affair. His sense of loss and betrayal is truly haunting.

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