Movie Review The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener (2005) 

Directed by Fernando Meirelles

Written by Jeffrey Caine

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy

Release Date August 31st, 2005

Published September 15th, 2005 

Fernando Meirelles's City Of God was an astonishing announcement of a talent truly coming into his own. Meirelles had made movies in his home country of Brazil before but nothing with the visceral visual punch of City Of God. With such success a move to feature directing closer to the heart of the business in Hollywood was inevitable. With The Constant Gardener, a British independent production distributed by Focus Features, Meirelles has gone about as Hollywood as he is capable of. A political thriller from the great John Le Carre that aspires beyond mere thrills to something far more important.

Don't be misled into thinking that Gardener is a ponderous thumping of liberal guilt towards Africa; it's also a love story about an emotionally walled-off man and a beautiful, idealistic free spirit thrust into the political whirlwind of Africa.

Ralph Fiennes stars in Constant Gardener as Justin Quayle, an assistant British diplomat who has likely reached the peak of his employability. Quayle seems to have little interest in his bureaucratic position in Kenya where he spends most of his time tending his garden while his superiors handle the heavy diplomatic lifting.

Even after meeting the beautiful idealist Tessa (Rachel Weisz) while on assignment in Britain and falling quickly in love, Quayle remains detached from his African surroundings. Upon moving to Africa with Justin, Tessa jumps immediately into the streets and slums of Africa taking on the cause of healthcare with the help of a local doctor, Arnold (Hubert Kounde).

With AIDS ravaging the country, pharmaceuticals are a hot button. When Tessa discovers that the goodwill of British pharmaceutical companies who donate much of the AIDS medication in the country comes with the danger of product testing for drugs that are not safe and in fact are quite deadly to some, she and Albert set out to expose the danger. All the while Justin remains respectful of his wife's passion but continues to tend his garden oblivious to the rising intrigue of his wife's activities.

When Tessa is found murdered Justin finally begins to see beyond the walls of his bureaucratic office. Setting out to discover why his wife was killed, Justin places himself in harm's way to expose the corruption his wife died to bring to light. Thus begins a world leaping journey from Africa to England and across Europe and a love story that even he had forgotten about.

The plot is as simple as my description, however Director Fernando Meirelles is not content to direct The Constant Gardener as a typical thriller. Interrupting the timeline, the film begins with Tessa's death and flashes back and forth from Justin and Tessa's first meeting to the beginning of Justin's search for meaning in her death and back to what exactly Tessa was attempting to expose.

The timeline shifts work, they give the film more intrigue than a straight telling might have. When combined with the handheld photography and hot hazy visuals of Africa, the film was actually shot in the streets of Kenya, it gives the film a real dramatic jolt. Like City of God, The Constant Gardener has Meirelles signature documentary look and feel.

The acting in The Constant Gardener is first rate. Ralph Fiennes is likely the most consistently fascinating actor working today. His reputation is that of the mercurial ACTOR in every sense of the word and yet the talent on display in The Constant Gardener is astonishingly subtle and affecting. It is Fiennes who really sells the romantic aspects of the plot and makes you believe that even as disconnected as Justin was from his wife's passions he loved and respected everything about her. 

I cannot praise Mr. Fiennes' work any more.  It's likely that awards season will heap all of the necessary praise on this extraordinary performance. This is Mr. Fiennes best work since his Oscar nominated role as a German guard in Schindler's List, his breakout performance. Since that role Fiennes has done fine work in obscurity. Aside from that other Oscar nominated piece The English Patient, his work in movies like Oscar and Lucinda, Spider and Onegin has been beloved by critics and ignored by audiences. His profile is likely to grow this fall with an appearance in the next Harry Potter film.

After wasting her talent in popcorn flicks like The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and Constantine, Rachel Weisz shows the breadth of her talents in The Constant Gardener.  A career best for Weisz as an actress, Tessa is naive and idealistic but with a steely side that comes out when she needs it. Her passion can be seen as foolish by some, as in the way she so gleefully engages in her worst behavior, but the cause is a worthy one. Wearing a pregnancy belly while walking through 100 plus degree heat amongst the impoverished throngs of Kenya is the kind of method acting few actresses could pull off.

Weisz, Fiennes and the supporting performance of the great character actor Danny Huston are all likely to be remembered at the Oscars in March. For Mr. Huston however I would recommend finding a good guy role soon, the ultra-creepy heavies that Huston plays in nearly every film are becoming cliche. Still his work here, while extra creepy at times, is memorable and necessary.

If there is one issue I have with The Constant Gardener it is with the international intrigue and murder for hire subplots. Maybe I'm just burned out on the conventions of the thriller genre but I wasn't interested in seeing every extra painted as a potential threat. There is a scene in the London airport that is typical of the good guy on the run style thriller where everyone in the airport is shown to be a potential spy ready to report Justin's whereabouts to the bad guys. The scene feels out of place in such a serious minded movie.

It is a fact that many corporations do many awful things, but corporations in movies always seem to want to kill anyone who threatens the stock price. In The Constant Gardener Justin is chased all over Africa, Britain and Europe by the shady thugs of a drug company trying to keep him from disclosing their nefariousness. The type of issues raised in The Constant Gardener about the shocking treatment of Africans treated as guinea pigs deserves a more serious look, the thriller plot cheapens the issue.

African poverty and healthcare is a black mark on the conscience of every American. In a country as rich as ours, for us to be so negligent of the issues in Africa is shameful. We rationalize that our government is dealing with it, and indeed our economic aid to Africa is substantial, but industries like the pharmaceutical industry in America and England are doing the kinds of things dramatized in The Constant Gardener and there is no public outcry. Shamefully there are 100 times the number of news stories about Brangelina as there are about the issue those two stars have given so much of their own time to in Africa.

The thriller aspects of The Constant Gardener are remnants of John Le Carre's book and while they likely work in print the conventions are exhausted in film. Besides that, it is the romantic plot that is the real audience hook in The Constant Gardener. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz have amazing chemistry even as the plot requires them to be pulled apart most of the time. The romantic longing that leads Justin to investigate Tessa's death is very compellingly played by Fiennes.

The film probably would have worked just as well, and even better, without the thriller plot. There was plenty of drama mined from Tessa's secrets and the non-violent machinations of the drug companies to make a compelling story. The minor gunplay and spy vs spy shenanigans feel out of place and unnecessary. Still though, they are a minor detraction.

For Fernando Meirelles working for the first time in a relatively big budget movie, the first film of his career he did not write and develop on his own, The Constant Gardener is a great accomplishment. Even through material not of his own creation his vision wins out over everything. The Constant Gardener is not quite the triumph that City Of God was, but topping that remarkable film may take a lifetime. As it is, The Constant Gardener is yet another example of his rising talent and profile. Mr. Meirelles' work will now likely be as anticipated by film fans as that of Pedro Almodovar or Martin Scorsese.

The film serves another more important purpose as well. It is a reminder of the horrors taking place in Africa and the desperate need for more worldwide attention and involvement. The film is not preachy about these problems but merely throws an important light upon them and in that sense it is more important than a mere movie.