The subject matter is all too familiar to us here at Georgetown: a young British couple moves to Africa. The wife-a young revolutionary trying to uncover the faces of corruption and save the people of Kenya. The husband-a low-level diplomat trying to work his way up the corruptive chain.
One learns a few lessons in developmental economics and the dangers that Africa faces everyday as it rests in the hands of greedy multi-national corporations. But in addition to being a film that could be a part of several syllabi on campus, The Constant Gardener is a visual masterpiece, thanks to director Fernando Mereilles and his collaboration with cinematogropher C?sar Charlone.
Mereilles, director of the Academy Award-nominated City of God, has a knack for portraying the sense of chaos that no doubt flourishes in the favela ghettoes of Brazil, or in this case, the impoverished villages of Africa.
In The Constant Gardener, Mereilles spends a lot of time filming Justin (Ralph Fiennes) and Tessa’s (Rachel Weisz) scenes in the background, focusing more on the bush that Justin is pruning, for example. Or in the case of Tessa’s death, the landscape on which she died, a beautiful, wildly colored marsh, is given favor. Her death is merely signified in the corner of the screen by the spinning wheel of the car she was driving.
This out-of-focus view of the film’s events, in addition to jolting camera movement as the couple drives through the chaos of various small villages, is highly effective in portraying the disorganization that runs rampant across Africa. The only downside to this directorial insight of Mereilles is that, at times, the film makes you feel dizzy and discombobulated.
Similar to his work in City of God, Charlone’s coloring palate is what makes this film remarkable. The deep, overexposed yellows of the villages contrasted with the brightly colored clothing of the villagers are magnificent, as are the scenes shot in dark corners with melancholy green and blue tinted frames. Mereilles’ unconventional directorial style allows Charlone a much larger artistic spectrum, who is left to play more with the sights of Africa and the colors of seemingly insignificant backdrops, rather than having to focus strictly within a storyline.
The plot, based on the book by John LeCarr?, is a little disappointing. The tagline reads “Love. At Any Cost.” Unfortunately, this love for which Justin pays such a high price is very underdeveloped and unconvincing.
Weisz does an excellent job as the activist wife who will risk her fidelity to her husband for the people she has learned to love. Fiennes does an equally good job in his portrayal, though his character is almost too unlikable and unbelievable in his lack of backbone to give Fiennes any credit for his portrayal.
Neither of the pair sacrifices much for their mutual love, but instead for their dependence on something that gives them purpose. For Tessa, that means risking her life to uncover hidden truths about big-name corporations and governments. For Justin, who proves to be a pushover, it means risking his own life to help a wife who seemingly, minus her rhetoric, uses him for her own ends. And while their marriage fails from miscommunication, the union of Mereilles and Charlone proves successful once again.
