A gardener is a caretaker. In one of the more moving scenes of the new film “The Constant Gardener,” based on the John LeCarré novel, a man offers to wrap a woman up with cloth tape for safe transport, as he would a plant cutting. The analogy of care goes further as the film progresses.
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“The Constant Gardener” |
 Entertainment
Art
Directed by Fernando Meirelles
Written by John Le Carré (novel) and Jeffrey Caine (screenplay)
Starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz
Rated R for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity.
Released Aug. 31, 2005
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I heard a sermon last Sunday from a Maryknoll missionary pointing out that life in Kenya has changed dramatically over the last several decades since he first began working in the region. Techonology has so permeated the culture (cell phones, computers, modern cars) that almost no one can live off the land anymore and a huge number of the people now live in terrible slums in the large cities. AIDS, TB, and other life-threatening diseases are a way of life. Lo and behold, I found myself viewing “The Constant Gardener” later that same day and got to see, through the brilliant direction of Fernando Meirelles, the abject poverty the priest described.But there’s also a political thriller at work here, told half through flashback and half through a classic Hitchcockian character’s discovery of events that happened right under his unwitting nose. Ralph Fiennes is English Ambassador Justin Quayle, who has wed Tessa, a fiery, passionate, ambitious woman (Rachel Weisz), just before embarking on his ambassadorship to Kenya. The film begins a couple years into Quayle’s service just as Tessa, who has been working with Arnold (Hubert Koundé), a native doctor administering medicine and clinical care to the locals, is about to expose the British government’s involvement in a a pharmaceutical company’s illicit testing of a new drug on the Kenyan poor. Tessa is killed and Arnold disappears, suspected of committing the murder.
The couple had agreed that Tessa’s endeavors would be her own, so Justin is unaware of her involvement, largely through videocam conversations via her laptop, with members of Amnesty International. After several people suggest infidelity, Justin begins searching out the truth. Tessa was actually entangled in a number of dangerous plots, and Justin’s inquiries are thwarted by a number of British governmental and corporate heavies, the Kenyan police, and especially by Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston), thought to be a trusted friend.
The story takes us to various Kenyan locales, to London and back, and to Amsterdam. Meirelles, the acclaimed director of “City of God,” changes visual tone frequently, emphasizing color in Africa, sometimes to the point of artistic distortion, while lighting the corporate and government office scenes in greys and blues, almost to black and white. The director also uses grainy film and handheld cameras to underline tensions and uncertainties in the story, as well as regular non-verbal communication, especially by the many Kenyan extras, and the occasional subtitle.
Fiennes is perfectly cast as the polite, refined, oblivious Justin Quayle, yet also very believable once he goes underground to try to solve his wife’s murder. Weisz, who has slowly crept up on us through formulaic B-movies plays the complex Tessa masterfully, portraying almost careless flirtatiousness, considerable moxy in the face of corruption, and even spending a good portion of the film very pregnant. The succession of British film veterans playing the heavies (Bill Nighy, Gerard McSorley, Pete Postelthwaite, Donald Sumpter) are all terrific, too, none overplaying. Huston delivers a fine performance in a thankless role, playing a guy whom most seem to like, but whom the audience should hate. Also effective in friendlier supportive roles are Archie Panjabi as Ghita and Richard McCabe as Tessa’s lawyer brother.
But is the film entertaining? Yes, although like “City of God,” or “Hotel Rwanda,” this film should make you angry. According to Meirelles, racism is alive and well in the third world. His shot moving from an all-white golf course through a stand of trees to the rusting slums beyond, is one of the most powerful of the film. But there’s plenty of intrigue here, too, and while the film telegraphs some of the significant clues, others come out of the blue. A riveting film that, despite its central love story, will more likely engage your brain and your gut first.
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