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Director:
Fernando Meirelles
Cast:
Ralph Fiennes……….Justin Quayle
Rachel Weisz……….Tessa Quayle
Danny Huston……….Sandy Woodrow
Hubert Kounde……….Arnold Bluhm
Bill Nighy……….Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Pete Postlethwaite……….Lorbeer
Focus Features presents The Constant Gardner. Written by Jeffrey Caine, based on the novel by John Le Carre. Running time: 129 minutes. Rated R (for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity).
The movie:
Fernando Meirelles is the Brazilian-born director who made a name for himself with Cidade de Deus (City of God), a film that some critics believe to be “one of the best films ever made.” Best for a particular year is understandable, but when you proclaim it as one of the best in the history of cinema now that’s saying something. His 2005 follow-up The Constant Gardener is just as riveting as the Oscar-nominated feature.
Based on John Le Carre’s best-selling novel, the film is a wake-up call to the world about an epidemic in Africa: pharmaceutical drug testing. The picture stars Ralph Fiennes as Justin Quayle, a straightforward British diplomat who is impressed by a beautiful, yet inquisitive, woman (Rachel Weisz). During his lecture to a small audience, she asks him a question in regards to the United Nations. Flustered a bit, Justin maintains his composure. He’s not angered by her accusations, but rather scared. Or so he says as the two leave to have a drink.
Justin is, for some reason, enamored by this mysterious woman named Tessa. He’s so enamored that after the drink they end up at her place. The start of their relationship is filled with sexual voraciousness. And Justin is thankful, calling it a “gift.” Sex is their only connection, but as the two get to know each other’s feelings they find themselves madly in love. Life couldn’t be any better. Then one day Justin receives word from his friend Sandy (Danny Huston) that Tessa – who was traveling to Kenya to help with the AIDS relief effort – has been brutally murdered on a desolate strip of road.
A mystery arises. Who would want Tessa dead? Why was she murdered on her way to help HIV-infected residents? Was Justin blind to the fact to what his wife was trying to accomplish in Kenya? By trying to unravel the clues surrounding his wife’s murder Justin becomes a target of interest. He is in so deep that one acquaintance warns him, “Some very nasty things can be found under rocks, especially in foreign gardens.”
The Constant Gardener has everything a film lover could want. It’s a political thriller, a mystery, and a romance. Jeffrey Caine’s plot and dialogue make the characters in this John Le Carre adaptation appear real. They are real people with real problems in a fictional situation that could indeed be happening. As Justin Quayle, Ralph Fiennes is an interesting study. No fault to Caine’s screenplay, but Fiennes is able to exude so much more emotion with his face than any line of dialogue could achieve. Justin is a complicated man who at first believes that it is not his place to help the impoverished people of Kenya. With the death of his wife, however, there is this change; self-knowledge of the world around him.
Ralph Fiennes is excellent in his role as the British diplomat, but it is Rachel Weisz who gives a commanding performance. Watching her character develop through flashbacks, we take notice of how different she can be. Tessa can be gentle and passionate as she cuddles with her husband. But she is also a strong woman with an agenda. A political activist and relief worker, she becomes troubled by the numerous deaths occurring in Kenya due to pharmaceutical testing. So much so, she interrupts a dinner party with some of the executives in charge of the distribution.
The shooting style is a breath of fresh air. Under Fernando Meirelles’ direction he takes this film where not too many go. He lobbied to have The Constant Gardener shot in Kenya, instead of South Africa, which is the hotbed for Africa’s film industry. The gamble pays off because Meirelles not only transports you to Africa, he immerses you in the culture. Along with his cinematographer Cesar Charlone, Meirelles uses the camera to tell the story from a third-person perspective, and sometimes through Justin’s eyes. By using the camera tripod sparingly the result is a film that feels like a documentary. For one flashback Tessa is performing relief work with her friend Dr. Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Kounde). Walking through the town she encounters a number of people. These aren’t extras. They are inhabitants of this destitute landscape.
The Constant Gardener is a reality. When Justin encounters a doctor who says “big pharmaceuticals are right up there with the arms dealers,” it’s not an exaggeration. Drug companies disperse pills that are way past their expiration date on an unsuspecting population just so they can get a tax write-off. While some over hyped celebrity is a cover story, the plight in Africa gets maybe a small blurb in between a Red Apple sales advertisement and the classifieds. Drug testing, the spread of disease and famine, even persecution is a normal occurrence. But without exposure, there is no interest. In that regards, Africa might as well not exist.
Score: 9.5/10
The DVD:
VIDEO: How does it look?
(Presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen)
Shot at various exotic locales, this Fernando Meirelles film is a work of art. The techniques used in shooting The Constant Gardener help provide a canvas of rich colors that paint a beautiful picture of the dreariness of Africa. Having seen this film in a theater last August, and now seeing it on home video, I must say Focus Features did an excellent job with the transfer. No problem with the print itself and the images don’t appear to be soft.
Score: 9/10
AUDIO: How does it sound?
(English and French Dolby Digital 5.1)
Not sure if the French language track is needed, but it’s there if you want to take a listen. The sound is crisp and clear and the surround speakers have a nice output of ambient noises, like when birds scamper off a lake. You can hear their cawing reverberate around you. The voices of townspeople are also well defined. With Alberto Iglesias’s music score I was worried that the DVD producers may intensify the dialogue and drown out the folk music of Kenya. Not the case. I was very pleased with the mixing.
Score: 8/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: Deleted scenes and featurettes!!
After popping in the DVD, you have the option of watching a number of advertisements at the start, or bypass them to get directly to the main menu. The ads include the theatrical trailer for Brick; a DVD plug for Cinderella Man; a Focus Features spot; and TV’s Law & Order.
Getting to the good stuff, we begin with four deleted scenes. They run without interruption for ten minutes. The best of the bunch is a scene that has Justin Quayle traveling to Canada to talk with a woman associated with the pharmaceutical tests in Kenya. It’s a good scene, but it doesn’t tell us anything that we didn’t already know. These four scenes were wise cuts by Meirelles and Claire Simpson, his editor.
The Extended Scene – Haruma: Play in Kibera is a longer cut of a small play that is shown briefly in The Constant Gardener. A little over nine-and-a-half minutes, the play is about the love and compassion people should give to those infected with the AIDS virus.
The next three extras are featurettes that could have been combined into one. Embracing Africa: Filming in Kenya (9:27) shows the cast and crew in Kenya and all of the troubles they had to endure to get the film made. Ralph Fiennes, the movie’s producer Sir Simon Channing, Rachel Weisz, and others speak while footage shot from Kenya shows how the country is represented. It’s quite a sight to behold.
Knowing a little bit about the shooting location, how about a feature on the film’s inspiration? John Le Carre: From Page to the Screen (8:06) is a short, but interesting conversation with the author in which he explains how the story and the adaptation came about. Le Carre begins by saying how the motivation for a novice writer is to produce a novel that can be made into a movie. He, too, was as naïve as the next guy. The most fascinating aspect between Constant Gardener the novel and Constant Gardener the film is that Meirelles took “the minimum intention of the novel and illustrate(d) with the maximum of freedom.” In other words, the movie and book are like apples and oranges.
The last featurette is Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener. Clocking in at 11:30, the special feature resembles a package a critic would find in an electronic press kit (EPK). It’s basically a quick overview of the work it took in producing the film. One revealing facet, though, is a quote by John Le Carre about Justin Quayle. “Justin should be a man who almost accidentally married his conscious.” Looking back at the film, I agree. Justin and Tessa, at first, seem like polar opposites. But amazingly, they complete each other and have a bond that can’t be broken. Even in death.
Score: 7/10
