THE CONSTANT GARDENER

Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Wiesz, Danny Huston, Billy Nighy

"Love at any cost."

Cinema 3, Greenbelt 3

You certainly can't go wrong with a movie based on a novel by John Le Carre and directed by Fernando Meirelles. He directed that hauntingly realistic film about the slums of Brazil, City of God. It focuses on poverty, the inner intricacies of diplomacy, the blatant abuse of 'disposable' people in Africa by greedy multinationals and in essence it is also a love story. Meirelles uses the same technique of showing flash backs, as well as shots of crowded places amidst the backdrop of photographic aerial shots of Africa. At first, the story progresses at a slow pace, then you are drawn into the whole conspiracy without losing track of the main theme. There will always be companies that will take advantage of the down trodden, the so called 'disposable people' just because they are too poverty stricken to speak against the injustice. Moral conscience is at play here. As long as there are cause oriented persons like Tessa (Rachel Weisz) - these malpractices will be exposed. Even though she paid dearly for it with her own life. Good performance as expected from Ralph Fiennes in his underacting style. His  broodingly sensitive portrayal of a shy, low ranking diplomat assigned to Africa suits him well. The scene (he is back in London at their apartment) where he breaks down in tears outside in the rain while scenes of his happy life with Tessa is flashed on screen is very powerful. Good supporting cast ably carries the entire film. Although, it is based on a book by an author famous for his spy thrillers and conspiracy theories scenario, I can't help but believe that such grave injustice really happen on a daily basis in third world countries.
The harsh truth is people simply don't care!