The Constant Gardener
(dir. Fernando Meirelles)
Quality spy offering from the John le Carré novel, swapping his cold war agents for just-as-cold corporate bureaucrats and civil servants working abroad in Kenya.
Think I was expecting more of an English Patient level romance here, pitching a relationship against the sweep of history etc. It does a bit of that, with slightly wet minister Ralph (rafe) Fiennes somehow swinging fiesty activist Rachel Weisz and getting her to head out to Africa with him and his plants.
What's handled really well is the way that Fiennes is slowly forced into action, trying to work out if Weisz has been doing the dirty on him, and also finding out who his friends in the Foreign Office really are. Bill Nighy's got a solid cameo doing his thing well, and Danny Huston (who i loved in the underrated Ivan's XTC) is also shaping up to be a decent character actor.
The anger against corporate indifference/callousness towards the price of African life is succinct, without spilling into preachiness - feels like a real, rather than movie evil. Good use of the landscapes - both Kenya and London, looking totally grey compared to the African colours. Interesting to have a non-uk director like Meirelles who did City Of God etc shooting London.
Overall, it's slow, but not dull if you're in the mood. The only duff note is a teenage hacker who does one of those movie tech bits: "yeah, just like crack into the mirror server and wah wah wah" which should get him a job at CTU any day now…
24th Feb 2006 - Tumblr
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