THE CONSTANT GARDENER

Ralph Fiennes is British diplomat Justin Quayle, “The Constant Gardener” - a stuffy bureaucrat oblivious to the stench of political corruption existing beyond the borders of his perfectly tilled garden. When his activist wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), is murdered in a remote corner of Kenya, he sheds his complacency to track down her killers and champions the cause that led to her execution.

The movie starts off with the death of Tessa and her travelling companion, Dr. Arnold Bluhn (Hubert Kounde). Rumors of an interracial affair fill the air, but Justin will hear none of it. He knows her too well, but not well enough it seems as he learns the dangerous nature of her clandestine work. First Justin reflects on their life together recalling her outspokenness, arrogance and passion, but most of all, her passion.

Justin and Tessa seem an unlikely pair, but she represents a freedom and daring he never knew. He follows the rules. She breaks them. Theirs is a match destined for conflict. Once in Kenya, Tessa becomes a thorn Justin’s side. She is perceived as a meddler by the diplomatic community, while proving her mettle to the native doctor trying to alleviate the pain and suffering wrought on his countrymen by the spread of AIDS and TB.

Director Fernando Meirelles sprinkles the flashbacks in the first half of “The Constant Gardener” with clues about Tessa’s human rights activities away from the embassy while Justin is doing the Crown’s business from behind his desk. Snippets of dialogue hint at hidden agendas at social teas. Unfamiliar faces haunt hospital corridors where patients are denied proper medical attention. The lust of a trusted friend is linked to a missing document tying Tessa to her investigation into the affairs of a drug company, its experimental drug, and the government’s collusion in the deaths of its unsuspecting victims.

Ralph Fiennes’ performance is a study in the transforming power of love. Justin’s journey toward a new awakening begins the moment he falls under Tessa’s spell. The loveless man becomes an ardent lover, a true romantic. Justin is, at first, unable to abandon his public persona. His approach to life is more academic than pragmatic until Tessa’s death tears at his soul. He becomes a muckraker to restore her good name and prove himself worthy of her memory. Justin carries the torch for her cause through the back alleys of central Europe to the corridors of power in his native England and back to Kenya with evangelical zeal. He soon realizes he’s following the same path as his wife with her killers not far behind.

“The Constant Gardener,” from a novel by Spymeister John Le Carre, is equal parts love story, political thriller and cautionary tale. The locations of Nairobi give the movie the immediacy of a well honed documentary. The acting, from Peter Postlethwaite’s miniscule part as the missing link to Tessa’s international allies and Gerard McSorley’s corporate pit bull to Rachel Weisz’s emotionally charged activist are nothing less than miraculous. Bill Nighy, so good as an aging rock star with a novelty hit in “Love Actually,” hits all the right notes with a stiff upper lip as the mouthpiece for Her Majesty’s foreign service.

Yet after all is said and done, and as good as “The Constant Gardener” is, I have one minor quibble. I couldn’t help but feel a formula at work underneath the stark emotions put forth on the screen. Every once in awhile I found myself mentally stepping back from the action to ponder the forces at play, sifting through tidbits of information and whole scenes trying to figure out how Justin’s life would play out. What I didn’t expect was the perfect ending that restored the emotion I had invested in “The Constant Gardener.”

Copyright 2005

The best movies from John le Carre’s novels.

“The Spy Who Came In from the Cold” (1965) - Dir. Martin Ritt: A black and white classic. Richard Burton gives one of his best performance as an aging spy trying to escape from the Communist bloc without exposing his identity or his contacts. The spy game is depicted as a dreary business unlike the James Bond films which were at the height of their popularity with “Goldfinger” the year before. The outstanding cast includes Oskar Werner, Claire Bloom, and Bernard Lee - a James Bond alumnus. He played M.

“The Deadly Affair” (1966) - Dir. Sidney Lumet - Suicide or murder? That’s what James Mason has to find out in this first class mystery thriller full of double agents and double crosses. With Simone Signoret and Maximilian Schell.

“The Little Drummer Girl” (1984) - Diane Keaton gives a knockout performance as an actress enlisted in the Palestinian cause to act as a spy in a world she knows little about. With Anna Massey and Klaus Kinski

“The Tailor of Panama” (2001) - Dir. John Boorman: Pierce Brosnan gives a bravura performance as Secret Service agent who wreaks havoc for his own amusement and greed by creating an international incident with help of unsuspecting ambitious tailor, Geoffrey Rush. With Brendan Gleason and Jamie Leigh Curtis. You’ll either love it or hate it. I loved it.

The worst movie made from a John le Carre book

“The Looking Glass War” (1969) - Not a great movie but it’s a chance to see a very young Anthony Hopkins. This one tried to cash in on the presence of Christopher Jones who was supposed to be the next heartthrob after his star turn in “Wild in the Streets” the year before, he played a rock star who is elected President and leads a revolution to jail everyone under 30. (Or was it 20 something?). Here he’s a pawn left out to dry when he is recruited to get pictures of a rocket site behind the Iron Curtain. Jones was also the love interest in David Lean’s “Ryan’s Daughter’ in ’69.