BuzzFlash Reviews

January 11, 2006

The Constant Gardener (Widescreen Edition DVD) (2005)

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

Okay it's got the star power, it's got a cinematographer that turns the movie into a lush tour de force, it's based on a book by the inimitable "thinking person's" spy novelist and lacerating Bush critic -- John le Carre -- and it's directed by Fernando Meirelles, who made the groundbreaking, overpowering "City of God," about the youth gangs of Brazil.

That should be enough to get BuzzFlash readers to cue up "The Constant Gardener."

But there's more, it received four stars from most critics, including this laudatory, glowing review from Roger Ebert:

"'The Constant Gardener' may be the angriest story Le Carre has ever told. Certainly his elegant prose and the oblique shorthand of the dialogue shows the writer forcing himself to turn fury into style. His novel involves drug companies who test their products on the poor of the Third World and are willing to accept the deaths that may occur because, after all, those people don't count. Why not? Because no one is there to count them.

Do drug companies really do this? The recent verdict against the makers of Vioxx indicates that a jury thought Merck sold a drug it knew was dangerous. Facts are the bones beneath the skin of a Le Carre novel. Either he knows what he's talking about, or he is uncommonly persuasive in seeming to. 'The Constant Gardener' plays at times like a movie that will result in indictments. What makes the film extraordinary is that it also plays as a love story, and as an examination of the mysteries of the heart.

'The Constant Gardener' begins with a strong, angry story, and peoples it with actors who let it happen to them, instead of rushing ahead to check off the surprises. It seems solidly grounded in its Kenyan locations; like "City of God," it feels organically rooted. Like many Le Carre stories, it begins with grief and proceeds with sadness toward horror. Its closing scenes are as cynical about international politics and commerce as I can imagine. I would like to believe they are an exaggeration, but I fear they are not. This is one of the year's best films."

"The Constant Gardener" continues BuzzFlash's 2006 selection of films that shed light on corporate corruption and greed -- and its relationship to governments where money buys democracy. And when a film can as be as sophisticated, well-acted, visually stimulating and entertaining as "The Constant Gardener," you've got the whole ball of wax wrapped up into one DVD.

This is an "A Team" film. Because of its political message, "The Constant Gardener" did only marginally well at the box office. That's a shame. As with "Syrianna," "The Constant Gardener" is testament to the power of film to create riveting and classy thrillers that reveal as much about the forces of darkness in the multi-national corporate world and money-grubbing politicians as they demonstrate the fine art of film making at its best.

There are many special features in this just-released DVD, including deleted and extended scenes and "John le Carre: From Page to Screen."

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