The Constant Gardener (DVD)

This is a worthy piece of beautifully shot film-making with an especially subtle portrayal given by the male lead. It's unarguably a good thing that The Constant Gardener educates us all about the shady work done in Africa by multinational companies, but this film fought shy of tackling the real issue- what if anything should realistically be done about it. The actors were let down by an inconclusive and unlikely plot (the film's a heavily adapted version of the novel), that presents a wholly inexplicable match between a conservative British diplomat and an attractive and rich young woman whom everyone except the diplomat can easily spot is about to naively get herself in real trouble attacking vested interests abroad with links to the British government. The film is plotted as though the 1960s never happened and resistance to multinational crime is still at the stage of lone voices heroically but wholly ineffectively trying to present the truth to power (bizarrely in this film in which the British government are implicated, the heroine dies trying to report a pharmaceutical abuse to the very government who are complicit in the abuse). That said, one point the film did make very well is how impossible it is to save even one life in the context of endemic disadvantage and lawlessness as it exists in Africa - the remark is made as one child is thrown off a life-saving 'plane, "it's how things are in Africa". If this film had dealt more deeply with those complexities it would have had greater logical consistency, but it probably also would have been less palatable to its target audience.

This is an angst-ridden film about Africa told almost entirely from a white upper-middle class persepctive. The film-makers set up a charity as a result of making it and say their director really understood the plight of all those Africans who serve as voiceless landscape in its background. In sum, this film is colonial but aspires to some form of post-colonial complexity that it just hasn't thought through. It does make you think though, but ultimately mostly about how rich and privileged you'd have to be to really think this kind of message was going to "save" Africa. The thing about guilt is, it's not an end in itself. Ultimately it's self-serving unless it's rigourously used to plot out a workable response for change.

This,directed by Fernando Meirelles was released in 2005.It is an adaptation of the 2001 novel by John le Carré.The Constant Gardener is an Academy Award,BAFTA,and Golden Globe Award-winning film.The film has a different ending than that within the book.

It tells the story of Justin Quayle,who finds his wife murdered and seeks to uncover the reasons behind her death.

The story was filmed in Loiyangalani and the slums of Kibera,Kenya.The situation affected the cast and crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages.

Rachel Weisz won the Best Supporting Actress at the 2005 Golden Globes for her performance in the film,as well as the 2005 Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.These awards are fully deserved and she stands out in the film even if she is at times,only seemingly a mouthpiece for the script's social concerns.

Those concerns mainly focus on the plight of the African people who are dying of AIDS and TB while the world's major pharmaceutical companies continue to get richer.The film details a conspiracy in which one company is illegally testing unfinished drugs on poor African villagers with fatal and shocking results.Its an engrossing,disturbing and thought provoking film with excellent performances.For me,this just missed out on a 5/5 rating.

Whilst this is stunning to watch at times,there are other moments where the footage seems almost amatuer and hand-held camera like.Is this good or bad?You decide.

You would be crazy not to rent or buy this film.The cast are superb throughout and it is also beautifully shot,with a fantastically atmospheric soundtrack.

This review was written by Chris on 03 April 2006.