The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener and his wife, Tess. 


I don't like gardening, but I liked this movie. Don't worry. The movie isn't really about gardening at all.

The movie is based on the bestselling novel by John Le Carre. The story contains elements of romance, spy thriller, and social commentary on pharmaceutical companies. I liked the nonlinear storytelling in this movie. It worked for me. This movie was like watching a mystery novel. Although, it was kinda obvious to me that the big evil pharmaceutical company was behind the murders.


**********Spoiler Alert*******************************
Oh, by the way, this review contains spoilers just like all my movie reviews do.
******************************************************

Ralph Fiennes stars as John Quayle, a British diplomat. Rachel Weisz stars as Tessa.
Ms. Weisz won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2006.

Quayle is a quiet British diplomat that loves to garden. He is very diplomatic in that he doesn't like to offend anyone. While giving a speech, he meets Tessa. Tess starts arguing with him. Later she apologizes. She invites him over for a cup of hot coffee.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' infamous "Hot Coffee" mod that stirred up so much controversy recently seemed to be profoundly phrophetic in telling what would happen in this movie. Once a woman invites a man over to have some "hot coffee", it appears that that is a secret code word for boning. And that's exactly what they did immediately after they went inside her house.

The movie begins with Tess leaving for Africa. Then, it goes to a scene with an old jeep that seemed to have been flipped over to the side after it was blown up.

The movie was shot very artistically and the nonlinear approach to the storyline helped with that effect.

His friend, Sandy, another diplomat, tells him the bad news about his wife. At first, he seemed to be a good friend. Later on, we realize how sleazy he was. He was secretly in love with Tess. He was always coming on to her. The movie's nonlinear approach makes it seem like she had an affair with him in the beginning. Afterwards, we discover that Tess was a faithful wife.

Tess was some kind of radical hippy doctor-type that helped out in the aid to Africa. She learns that the drugs provided to Africans afflicted with AIDS and TB were actually killing people. The drug company was using African people to test their drugs. She writes a report to the president of the drug company. A letter is given to Sandy, but he keeps it to himself instead of sharing the contents with Tess. Sandy is on the conspiracy to hide what the pharmaceuticals are doing. Tess really really wants to know what the letter says. She knows that Sandy wants her. She says that she will give him what he wants if she can read the letter. Due to Sandy's horniness, he agrees to do it even though it brings danger to himself.

Tess keeps everything to herself without telling her husband, Quayle, because she wanted to protect him. She knew that she was in danger and didn't want him to get involved too.

Meanwhile, Quayle is suspecting that Tess is having an affair with her other African friend, Arnold Bluhm. But, later he finds out that Arnold was gay. What a relief, he thinks.

Quayle eventually discovers the truth that the president of the pharmaceutical company ordered her death. He discovers that they are testing Africans as live subjects for their drugs.

I found that this movie was very eye-opening in what may have been happening to people in Africa. The drug companies were testing their drugs for research so that they could later release it to the richer nations. They pretended that they were being charitable to African peoples who have been devastated by several plagues and diseases.

Quayle is later shot to death by a gang who is hired by the big bad corporation. Quayle however makes his peace with Tess and her death. He goes to the site where she died. Tess' cousin reads the letter hidden by Sandy in front of everyone at Quayle's funeral and the media start hounding the president of the pharmaceutical company.

Quayle kept thinking back to the times he was with Tess. He kept thinking of the times when Tess was naked. Was she pregnant by the way? How'd they make her look pregnant when she was totally naked? In the beginning Tess was thin. Then, they show times when Tess was pregnant and naked. Now, that's great job by the make-up department.

Highs: Superb acting by everyone (you can actually see the muscles tensing up in their faces when they're asked a stressful question!), great artistic filmmaking, nice scenery, nonlinear storyline that works, intriguing revelation about pharmaceutical companies.

Lows: Maybe very confusing at times, insinuations about Tess' unfaithfulness.

The Verdict: A great artistic thriller with a great socially relevant message.

My rating: A-, 90.