The Constant Gardner

Title: The Constant Gardner
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Romantic, Thriller
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz
Director: Fernando Meirelles

From the director who brought us the sublime ‘City of God’ comes a political thriller with an integral romantic element. Filmed entirely on location – largely in Kenya – the result perhaps feels somewhat disappointing, with a lack of tension built up over the course of the film, it presents a situation that whilst could easily make for a horrific tale of the evil conspiracies of the pharmaceutical industry, fails in presenting something truly shocking or thought provoking, inevitably concluding in a somewhat lacklustre affair.

Following the story of the British diplomat Justin Quayle (Fiennes) sent to Nairobi on business, he takes his wife, Tessa Quayle (Weisz) with him. She quickly becomes entangled in local politics, uncovering a conspiracy that many in a position of power wish to be kept secret, it isn’t long until her unfortunate demise at the hands of those who wish to silence her. Following the clues, Justin seeks to uncover the information that cost her life.

Presented through a series of flashbacks, the relationship presented between them feels the most powerful aspect of this story due in no small part the prowess of Weisz. Instantly likeable, her forthright inquisitive demeanour comes off as entirely believable, and when news of her death reaches her husband it is the energy that she has built up in her voyage of exploration that propels the story forward. With Fiennes quickly becoming obsessed with the circumstances of her death, its all he can do to attempt to match her stellar performance but fails to do more than maintain the momentum; adding little else to the role, he had a careful path to tread between getting caught up in grief over his loss and the determination to uncover the truth. Unfortunately, both aspects feels under played resulting in a somewhat wooden performance incapable of displaying the emotion required to elevate the film to new heights.

The plot itself continually unfurls, which whilst it never relents or slows down the pace, continually maintaining an interest in the events occurring, it unfortunately never manages to hit a climax either. At times it feels as though they attempted to turn it into a mystery-type film, a play at pointing fingers for whom is responsible for the dire situation, but with many of the comparatively minor characters given so little time to be explored, floating in and out of view as the various officials affiliated with the story, this question never truly gets asked.

Commendably the film was shot entirely on location lending a feeling of authenticity, many of the extra’s used were locals to the locations being used and a great deal of consideration seems to have gone into not only the locations, but the customs and manner in which the situation is in such a country, neither attempting to sugar coat the truth or make matters seem more diabolical than the reality. There was no use of mobile phones, car bombs or any other such plot device that would feel out of place in such an impoverished nation, and all these minor consideration add up to a realistic landscape. There was at times excessive use of ‘shaky cam,’ used to display a sense of tension, which here often felt unwarranted but is ultimately a minor issue and is easily ignored.

This is a film that displays many of the strengths shown in his previous film ‘City of God,’ but where it critically fails is in maintaining the emotion; by the end of the film the impact of her death has long since faded, and whilst we wait for the monumental conclusion to finally provide an epic ending, a tense, thought-provoking, heart warming sentiment, it never comes. The final impact comes from two revelations, but both feels so downplayed that it fails to strike even the smallest of chords. Ultimately, a rather disappointing result.