The Constant Gardener

 City Of God was the critic's favourite of 2003. Now director Fernando Meirelles follows it with a John Le Carré adaptation for his debut English language film. Could it be The Bourne Supremacy with politics?

As debut films go it's hard to beat Fernando Meirelles' City Of God for creating a buzz. Released in January of 2003 to rapturous reviews, it ended up topping most critics' end-of-year polls and picked up four Oscar nominations. That's a lot of pressure for any filmmaker. With The Constant Gardener, a £15 million adaptation of John Le Carré's novel, Meirelles is doing the sensible thing: choosing a film that, in terms of budget and scale, is a logical progression from his thrilling Brazilian odyssey.

It's a tale of sex, murder and corporate malfeasance in disease-ravaged Kenya. Ralph Fiennes stars as Justin Quayle, a British diplomat who'd rather bury his head in the sand by tending to his garden than answer difficult questions posed by his activist wife Tessa Abbot (Rachel Weisz). She believes members of the British hierarchy are in cahoots with corrupt government officials and a pharmaceutical multinational to test a new, potentially toxic tuberculosis drug on suffering Kenyans. But her search for the truth comes to an abrupt end when she dies in a car crash, a tragedy that shakes Justin out of complacency. Gradually coming to suspect foul play, he launches a career-threatening investigation into her death and starts to unravel a pharmaceutical company conspiracy that will take him on a mission from London to Berlin to Nairobi.

Part political thriller, part anti-corporate polemic, part retrospective love story, The Constant Gardner certainly seems like a good fit for Meirelles' dynamic, socially aware style of filmmaking. It didn't start out that way. Originally a project for Mike Newell, Meirelles can thank Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire for clearing the way for him to step behind the camera. Everyone else can thank Meirelles for focussing attention on Africa. As producer Simon Channing-Williams told the 'Daily Telegraph', "Until Fernando came on board, it was mainly about an enclave of English middle-class diplomats living in a colony in Africa... Fernando has brought a vision of Africa to the project."

Don't expect the film to flinch when it comes to the politics. Le Carré's book was initially banned in Kenya. Meirelles, whose native Brazil has long battled the price-jacking policies of the big pharmaceutical companies, doesn't seem like the kind of filmmaker to pass up an opportunity to comment on an important social issue. But the film is also a thriller, and if early American reviews are anything to go by, a pretty scorching one at that.

Don't expect the film to flinch when it comes to the politics. Le Carré's book was initially banned in Kenya. Meirelles, whose native Brazil has long battled the price-jacking policies of the big pharmaceutical companies, doesn't seem like the kind of filmmaker to pass up an opportunity to comment on an important social issue. But the film is also a thriller, and if early American reviews are anything to go by, a pretty scorching one at that.

Fans of City Of God's hyper-kinetic camera work should be in for a treat too. According to an interview with Fiennes in 'The Village Voice', Meirelles used a skeleton crew while shooting in Nairobi for six weeks. This allowed him to keep things spontaneous as he filmed among real crowds and involved strangers in the action.

As you'd expect, Mereilles has attracted a strong cast, which in addition to Fiennes and Weisz includes Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite and Danny Huston, so there should be plenty of acting fireworks. With The Bourne Supremacy proving there's an audience out there for tough thrillers, this could deliver in a big way.

 

Please visit the other link pages on this site:
Ralph Fiennes Links Page

 Ralph Fiennes Astrology Page

Back to the Jennifer Lash Links page
 

Back to the Ralph Fiennes - Jennifer Lash Main Page

This page was created with the Stonehenge.ttf font and is best enjoyed if you
have the font yourself.  If you want it please click on the green name Stonehenge.ttf above to download and install it to your PC.
Sorry not available for Mac's.  Thanks.
 

These pages are Copy written by Mary Sibley.  All rights reserved.
Please do not use anything within these pages without permission.
Please send an EMail to Mary Sibley for permission, thanks.