| Overall Grade: |
A |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
A |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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A Movie You Won't Soon Forget
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Dec 30, 2006
241
of
282 people found this review helpful
The Constant Gardener is a thriller, love story and socially conscious movie all wrapped into one. It also comes at a time during the year when there tends to be a dry spell of bad movies before the Oscar rush in November and December. Thus, it's a refreshing change.
I saw an advanced screening of the film last week (9 days ago) and still the movie resonates in me.
This movie is directed by Fernando Meirelles who directed the critically acclaimed City of God back in 2003. City of God was an incredible film and the camera work and action completely engulfed me in the story. Meirelles uses similar techniques in this film with the same results. One not only gets fully into the film from the characters and their actions but also you get a strong sense of the location in the movie and just how poor and helpless the Africans and their families are.
A scene to consider that drives Meirelles' point home occurs when Justin (Fiennes) approaches a group of old men on a golf course (well kept and lush green) to get information from them. On one side of the fence, are these men... rich and powerful and seemingly unremorseful about anything and then the camera pans to the left and on the other side of the fence you see the dirty shacks and highly clustered village where the poor villagers struggle to survive.
As for the acting in the movie, Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz were outstanding. Fiennes gives a tremendous performance as Justin - a British diplomat stationed in Nairobi. Just compare the Justin at the beginning of the film to him at the end to fully appreciate how well his character developed and how well this is portrayed by Fiennes.
In my opinion, Rachel Weisz is one of the most underrated actresses in Hollywood today. Weisz plays Tessa, a political activist who is uncovering a plot that ties big pharmaceutical companies to the drug testing of an unproven tuberculosis drug on helpless Africans. The performance was a formidable and powerful one. There are also great supporting contributions from Danny Huston (as Justin's colleague Sandy) and Bill Nighy (another British diplomat).
It still feels weird talking about an Oscar calibre movie at this point in the year but it's true. This movie should be considered come Oscar time. The acting was great, directing was tremendous, the screenplay was smart and well-written and visuals were fantastic. I highly recommend this film to everyone. |
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