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COPYRIGHT 2005 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
As if to warn that we are entering a disorderly world, "The Constant Gardener" starts with a farewell. Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) waves goodbye to his wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), as she heads toward a plane. She is accompanied by their friend Dr. Bluhm (Hubert Kounde)--better known as Arnold--who shoulders her bag as they go. The screen turns white, as though invaded by ghosts, and Justin never sees his wife alive again. The rest of Fernando Meirelles's film, shuttling around in time, continents, and mood, tells us who these people are, examines the ties that bind them, and ponders the death not just of Tessa but of Arnold, too, and those of several million others.
The bulk of the story is set in Africa. If you read the John le Carre novel from which the film is adapted, you are instantly and specifically made aware that this is a Kenyan story, but the film seems diffuse on the matter, and many viewers leaving the theatre will struggle to name the location. Meirelles wants to tell an all-Africa tale of woe: a noble but dangerous plan, which threatens to turn an entire landmass into one big problem. That said, the visions conjured here have a savor and a bite that feel anything but blurred. From the early shots of rust-colored salt pans, viewed from above as though from a planetary probe, to the handheld plunges into an urban throng, "The Constant Gardener" offers a fervid rebuke to the Western, nose-holding stance that extracts what...
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