The Constant Gardener

An adaptation of a John Le Carré novel and a film that wowed the cinemagoers at Cannes earlier in the year and also opened the 2005 London Film festival to glittering effect. Following his stunning exploits with City of God, director Fernando Meirelles directs with distinction a thriller romance The Constant Gardener a film that is likely to thrill audiences merely because it offers both intrigue and romance and leaves you thinking about what you’ve seen, for a good while afterwards.

You need to know that the story is set in Northern Kenya and concerns the relationship between diplomat Justin Quayle (Fiennes) and his feisty human rights activist wife Tessa (Weisz). Early on, you find out that Tessa and the young black friend she was travelling with, have been murdered and you share the grief of Justin but swiftly that grief turns to anger and with it comes an inquisitiveness to find out more. For Justin this is a voyage of discovery and with it, he turns from being a mild-mannered diplomat into a man who will stop at nothing, when he discovers his wife’s death is shrouded in a global conspiracy that involves his own bosses, an International pharmaceutical conglomerate and third-world villagers bullied into a position of manipulation.

Whilst the story is fictional, you have to wonder after seeing it, how far this work of fiction is from the real truth and you have to feel somewhat uncomfortably that this ugly depiction of what could be going on, between the Western world and Africa is a lot closer than you think. Great performances from Fiennes, Weisz and Bill Nighy make this an unmissable proposition. For sure, its going to get talked about a good deal.

Matt Arnoldi