Movie Review (DVD): The Constant Gardner

The Constant Gardner (DVD)

I didn't have much interest in seeing The Constant Gardner when it was first released. A number of awards nominations later, however, I decided that I had to at least take a look. Since the film is now out on DVD, I took the opportunity to see it this weekend. While I don't regret for a moment the time I took to watch, I also found the movie to be something of a mixed bag. Given the relevance of the subject matter, I think that's too bad.

The Constant Gardner follows the months a low level British diplomat spends in Africa with his young and beautiful wife. But before it does that, it begins with the end when a white woman is found tortured, raped, and dead along the shores of a remote lake. The diplomat identifies the body as being that of his wife, and in his grief, he begins to live partly in his memories. Even as he mourns, when his thoughts are in the present his sole focus is to find out why his wife was murdered and to bring her killers to jusitce no matter what the personal cost may be.

Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) actually meets the vivacious Tessa (Rachel Weisz) shortly before he's to leave for a post in Kenya. Tessa, who is a staunch human rights activist, begs him to take her along as his "mistress, lover, or wife," and he's unable to refuse her. While Justin tends to his extensive hobby garden and performs his assigned duties, Tessa befriends a local doctor. Along with Dr. Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Koundé), she visits families who live in Nairobi slums where she offers whatever help she can as she works to further her own goals.

Tessa's husband knows nothing of her efforts which are centered in large part on uncovering possible wrongdoing in connection with the ongoing pharmaceutical trials of a new tuberculosis medicine. But the closer Tessa comes to learning some very dirty secrets, the more danger she's in from a shockingly broad number of sources. Because Tessa doesn't want to endanger Justin or his job, she goes instead to another British authority stationed nearby. Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston) promises to help her. But despite Woodrow's assurances, it's eventually apparent that some will stop at nothing to prevent Tessa from telling what she knows.

Justin, of course, finds he must begin almost from scratch to discover the dead woman he still loves. As he picks his way along the trail of her earlier discoveries, he, too, descends into danger. But via ongoing flashbacks to happier days with Tessa, Justin determines to do whatever it takes and to brave whatever might come to finish Tessa's work and give himself closure in the matter of her sudden and violent death.

Ralph Fiennes gives an understated performance as the stoic Justin Quayle, but when his emotions do break through, he's especially powerful. Rachel Weisz's strong performance has been nominated for several awards including a Golden Globe (in fact, the movie itself is a Golden Globe Best Drama nominee). Hubert Koundé is fine though he's given little opportunity to show what he might be capable of as an actor; Danny Huston is also okay. Bill Nighy (who plays the rich and powerful Sir Bernard Pellegrin), however, takes a very limited role and shines.

The direction of The Constant Gardner is capable, but the editing undermines some of it (though I'll confess I really loved the interspersing of "personal" video clips within the movie). While flashbacks are a common enough technique to flesh out a story, they're needlessly confusing at times in this movie. Filmed largely on location in Kenya, the scenery is authentic if stark, and the slums of Nairobi are eye-opening (the movie makers actually established a fund for those living in the slums after filming was finished). So, too, is the subject matter.

The Constant Gardner is a good movie, but not a great one. Sadly, with better editing and cleaner storytelling, it could have been significantly better. Is The Constant Gardner worth seeing? Sure. But is it a must see film? Unfortunately not.

POLITICAL NOTES: The primary subject matter of The Constant Gardner involves the greed of pharmaceutical companies, and the amorality — and sometimes the outright immorality — of those who will do anything to make another buck. There's likely some truth to that (the artificial manipulation of the availability and price of AIDS drugs in Africa reported in recent years are a prime example). At the same time, such abuse wouldn't occur (or would at least be far less prevalent) if it weren't for the corruption of so many African governments and officials. That the movie barely addressed that corruption, and then only from a highly localized standpoint, seems to undermine the message somewhat.

Also objectionable was the apparent endorsement (or at least a lack of any criticism) of the United Nations. Although UN aid workers appeared only long enough to establish that air drops of food and medicines were ongoing, nothing was mentioned about the misdrection of those goods by government officials, nor about the utter inability of the UN itself to address those problems or their underlying causes. If the film had time to slap the hands of those Brits who support the War in Iraq (and it did), or to disparage the United States and its foreign policies (it did that, too), then surely it could have spared a moment to present the UN in other than strictly good and humanitarian terms.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: The Constant Gardner is rated R for "language, some violent images, [and] some sexual content/nudity." Aside from the fact that a few of the images are very violent indeed (though not graphic), the subject matter alone is quite mature. If the viewer isn't mature enough to understand — at least in general terms — some of the politics and the implications of same, then he or she isn't mature enough to see and appreciate this movie. I'd restrict The Constant Gardner to those well informed teens of about age 15 or 16 and up.