"That's a nice-a donut."
Monday, January 23, 2006
The Constant Gardener (2005)
Director Fernando Meirelles, the creative mind behind the Brazilian sensation City of God, went in a very different direction for his followup piece. For starters, The Constant Gardener is (primarily) an English-language film. And instead of a provocative drama about the gang culture in Rio de Janiero, we get a politically relevant movie about a man bent on solving his wife's gruesome murder, coupled with the threatening greed and potential destruction brought about by big businesses.
Almost right from the beginning of the movie British diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), in Kenya as part of the British High Command, learns some very bad news from his good friend Sandy (Danny Huston). He tells Justin that his wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz) may have been killed and, oh yeah, she might also have been having an affair. Undeterred by the rumors, and dissatisfied with the official investigation of her death, he presses on and begins his own private queries. As he digs deeper into the mess, he learns that the situation was more complicated than he could imagine and that a shady government-business conspiracy might be at work.
The relationship between Justin and Tessa is told in flashback, parallel to the present time and his ongoing investigation. Some of the briefer flashbacks, as well as a love scene, are very awkwardly shot; strangely evoking the sense of a photo shoot. This is likely done to give the connection between photos and memories, but the effect doesn't work right and are a little too frequent.
The story is fairly intriguing and challenging, but by the middle of the second act it has morphed into another typical adult drama thriller. Once you know who the bad guys really are it is no longer a matter of who or what, but simply when (and maybe how). Further, there is a very minor subtext in which Justin likes to work in the garden, tending to his collection of plants. It seems to give him comfort from his tense, diplomatic life there. But that aspect is virtually ignored later on.
The cast in general is pretty solid. Weisz, though mostly limited to the first part of the film, is decent. She is very effective and believable with regards to her being an idealistic humanitarian. Probably the best scene in the movie is when Justin and Tessa are in the car together and they spot a mother and her child who are on a long walk to a hospital much farther away. Tessa, in her sincerity and without a trace of selfishness, tries to convince Justin to pick them up and drive them there. On the other hand, Fiennes, who is normally a very good actor, is okay but doesn't feel completely right in the role. He doesn't exhibit nearly enough emotion or internal turmoil for a man going through so much.
Still, this is an important story. Meirelles is at his best here when he is remarking on the seemingly interdependent relationship between government and large corporations. It is quite easy to build empathy with an audience when you are railing against menacing pharmaceutical companies. And an (implicit) skewering of Tony Blair early in the film is good for some laughs. Some elements of the movie are very reminiscent of a mixture of Conspiracy Theory and The Fugitive. Overall, The Constant Gardener is a fairly compelling movie, but nothing you haven't seen before.
The Verdict: B.
Michael Bentley 1:20 PM
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