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The
Constant Gardener
 We
wandered into this film at the cheap show the other night because we
were in the mood for some suspense and we had heard that The
Constant Gardener, which we knew was based on a book by spy writer extraordinaire
John Le Carre, might be a good choice. It didn't deliver much in the
suspense department but wasn't bad and sure provided a graphic look
into what life might be like in Kenya. Warlords and the major pharmaceutical
companies come off looking as ruthless and brutal as the living
conditions and the scenery and landscape are quite striking. Not
really what we were looking for at the time but a film with merit
and that some people might really like.
Briefly, Ralph Fiennes
stars as a shy diplomat who, while giving a lecture, meets the
sassy, full of life Tessa when she raises her hand to question the
governments role in the Iraq war. This is the British government by
the way or perhaps the Welsh but in any event she soon seduces him
and convinces him to take her along to Africa where he is part of
some effort to ensure that charitable donations reach their intended
parties. He's not doing a very good job of this however and since we
find out immediately at the beginning of the film that Tessa is murdered, the suspense is supposed
to come as Fiennes tries to figure out if she was just using him or
if she really loved him and what exactly it was that she was
investigating. Rachel
Weisz plays Tessa and is convincing as a strong willed,
idealistic and passionate young woman who Fiennes marries but barely really
knows at the time she is killed.
The movie is filmed in a herky jerky style which works at times but
is off putting at others and the timeline is a bit confusing with
the flashbacks interspliced with the current happenings. The
performances are all good though and the setting and scenery very
convincing. Not really sure why we didn't like it more.
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