The Constant Gardener - Widescreen
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: C+
It has been a while since a John le Carré novel has become
a motion picture. Sometimes you get
disasters like The Russia House that even Sean Connery’s presence could
not salvage, then you get good films like John Boorman’s Tailor Of Panama
(2001) that get unjustly ignored. The
Constant Gardener has received better press and had at least as much
commercial success as those two combined, telling the story of a married couple
(Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz) who have their lives affected by a little
secret that turns into a series of ugly incidents, that gains size like a
downhill snowball.
However, this is taking place in Kenya, where they never
see snow. She is the woman who knows
too much and when she disappears, he goes looking for her, even if it will cost
him his life. The heart of the scandal
has to do with a drug that could save lives if a mega TB outbreak with no cure
but the new drug in question could fix.
Is it safe? Does it work? Do certain dark forces only want to
manufacture it to save their friends with money? Are those forces planning on letting millions of Africans die in
what would look like a “normal” outbreak when it is in fact de facto corporate,
governmental and biochemical genocide?
If so, which governments and corporations?
Fernando Meirelles helms the piece and gets mixed
results. The film makes more of the
MacGuffin (the thing that drives the story and characters, but the audience
supposedly does not care about) than it should, then does not see it
through. Considering le Carré’s track
record, the fact that this is never sufficient and is not well worked out as a
plot device or fully explained and developed point is very disappointing. As a result, the film hinges on this and
never begins to go all the way. That is
a shame, because the film is well cast and acted, though Weisz and Fiennes have
a strange chemistry gong back to Schindler’s List. There are visual moments that seem to reference
Fiennes’ critical and commercial hit The English Patient, but this is
never that boring or run-on. As a
result, The Constant Gardener fails to follower as the more ambitious Syriana
and Munich do, despite their own issues. At least Fiennes finally appeared in a spy project better than The
Avengers.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is not bad,
though the colors are usually on the sand and gray side, though scenes in the
streets of Kenya offer vibrant colors in the clothes of those who live their,
which is an ironic counterpoint to the whole thing. Cinematographer Cesar Charlone tries to find a new look for the
film and makes it more bearable as a result.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not bad, but nothing striking. This is dialogue-based for the most part,
with some occasional surrounds and bass activity in spots that are not
bad. Extras include five sections that
average 10 minutes apiece, more or less.
This includes one extended scene, several deleted (a few of which we
could consider alternative) scenes, one on filming in Kenya, one behind the
scenes and one with le Carré. There is
not an audio commentary, but this is sufficient.
- Nicholas Sheffo
