Constant Gardener (DVD)

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Eschewing the unfortunate title (who would have thought a film called "The Constant Gardener" would be an insightful and original twist on the traditional political thriller) the film reviewed here is an achievement of modern cinema. Certainly the ideas of revenge, fighting for love, and political intrigue are not original, but the way they are presented is artful marked by deep performances by great actors.

The audience´s perspective during "The Constant Gardener" is one that changes based on the information revealed by the filmmakers. In truth, I was in a perpetual state of confusion during the first hour of the film as I attempted to put together the pieces of the story. But the way the movie is structured, the writers give you just enough rope to hang yourself with, or just enough information to come to the wrong conclusion. From that aspect this movie reminds me a great deal (and positively) of David Mamet´s "The Spanish Prisoner." Both films deal with corporate corruption and one man fighting against the odds to uncover the truth. And like Mamet´s work, "The Constant Gardener" has layers of subterfuge and masked motivations that help build a complex mystery.

It´s difficult for me to summarize the plot because my perspective of the story was warped as it unfolded, so I´d be worried about spoiling it for new viewers. That having been said, I´m going to attempt to do just that and not expose too much information. Justin (Ralph Fiennes) is some sort of diplomat for the British government, though what he does is never completely divulged. What matters is that he is invited to the right parties with high-level government and business representatives in Africa; parties where his activist wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz) take the opportunity to verbally abuse those in charge of monitoring the distribution of HIV drugs to the poorest areas of the country.

Justin is warned to "rein in his wife" after a particularly embarrassing outburst during a cocktail party; just a few days later she is found murdered, the primary suspect is an African doctor that she went away with, one with whom most people suspected she was having an affair. The pieces don´t add up in Justin´s mind, and the more he finds out about what Tessa was up to behind his back the more he wants to find out about the circumstances that lead to her death. The first hour sets up the circumstances that lead to the murder (told through a series of flashbacks that get a smidge confusing) and explain how radically different people (a straight-laced, almost boring low-level diplomat who focuses more on his garden than on his life and a radical activist) hook up. Her death launches Justin into the exploration that leads him to see--for the first time--the world in which he lives.

The acting is refreshing in "The Constant Gardener." None of the characters feel stock, none of the situations routine. Justin and Tessa´s relationship is complex and the actors who play those characters do it justice. One moment there is love, the next an uncomfortable distrust as Justin probes for the truth about her interludes with a Kenyan doctor. A few moments later there is a sizzling sex scene followed by a breakdown in communication. Ah, ain´t love grand?

Stylistically, "The Constant Gardener" is a homerun. Just like the story isn´t an A-to-B narration, the film isn´t shot or cut in a traditional fashion. The movie´s chronology is strewn akimbo in order to leave the audience just a little more than confused as to what is going on; wondering whether what they are seeing is the truth. A lot of handheld photography gives sections of the film a voyeuristic appeal as we, like Justin, see things not meant for our eyes. The chronological tinkering doesn´t flesh out as wonderfully as in director Fernando Meirelles´ "City of God" but it certainly works.