Film Review by Aitor González

Film Title: The Constant Gardener

Country/Year: United Kingdom 2005

Genre: Thriller

Director: Fernando Meirelles ("City of God")

Writing Credits: Screenplay by Jeffrey Caine, based on the novel by John le Carre

Cast: Ralph Fiennes as Justin Quayle, Rachel Weisz as Tessa Quayle, Danny Huston as Sandy Woodrow, Hubert Koundé as Arnold Bluhm, Bill Nighy as Sir Bernard Pellegrin, Pete Postlethwaite as Lorbeer.

Rating: R for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity (Restricted for people under 17 years old)

Synopsis:
In a remote area of Kenya, Justin Quayle’s wife is found brutally murdered with a local doctor, who seems to be the main suspect in which seems to be a crime of passion. Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), a British diplomat, don’t trust what people say and decides to investigate what happened. He discovers his wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz) was a tough activist who wanted to reveal a conspiracy involving some corporations from pharmaceutical industry and members of the British High Commission who don’t want some secrets to be revealed and who seem to be able to do everything necessary in order to keep the things the same way. This searching will embark him on a personal odyssey that will take him across three continents risking his own life to find the true.
The screenplay is written in a non linear way and alternates between flashbacks of Justin and Tessa's relationship and Justin's hunt for the truth. The story is told starting from the end, so you know what happened last but it doesn’t take away the interest about the film.

Opinion:
Is the future of the countries determined by their governments or either by the huge multinational companies’ decisions? That’s the question Meirelles sends us. The love story of a British diplomat in Kenya and his woman, who is murdered at the beginning of the film while travelling through Kenya in the company of a local doctor is the background the director uses to show off the problem of AIDS in Africa and the battle for an important drug market which seems to justify everything, including murder, blackmail, extortion, illegal drug tests, and many others.
The Constant Gardener is a hooking thriller which mixes action, intrigue and political criticism in the proper measure and I’d only recommend it to those who really want to realise how we can be managed by the multinational corporations which seem to be the ones who really rule the international politics and consequently the country governments.

Type of Language Used: British English mixed with African English

Score: 4 stars (out of five)