Meirelles... takes the same street-level viewpoint of [City of God] to the impoverished, HIV-stricken population of Kenya's slums and villages.
The Constant Gardener (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:178
Fresh:148
Rotten:30
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: The Constant Gardener is a smart, gripping, and suspenseful thriller with rich performances from the leads.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity
Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Genre: Thriller
Theatrical Release:Aug 31, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $33,565,375
Synopsis: Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, whose previous film, CITY OF GOD, won awards all over the world--and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2004 Oscars--has crafted another... Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, whose previous film, CITY OF GOD, won awards all over the world--and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2004 Oscars--has crafted another highly entertaining yet important film. Beautifully shot in Kenya, Germany, Sudan, Manitoba, and London, THE CONSTANT GARDENER, based on a bestselling novel by John Le Carré, is an exciting mix of romance and spy thriller. Ralph Fiennes stars as Justin Quayle, a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), is killed, he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy. Jeffrey Caine's powerful screenplay alternates between flashbacks of Justin and Tessa's relationship and Justin's hunt for the truth, which makes him a target--although he doesn't know who is after him. Fine support is offered by Danny Huston as his close friend and confidant, Sandy; Bill Nighy as shady British official Sir Bernard Pellegrin; and Hubert Koundé as Arnold Bluhm, an African doctor who might have been a little too friendly with Tessa. Meirelles's pacing is outstanding, switching effortlessly between political intrigue, action adventure, and love story. And Fiennes and Weisz give strong performances playing complex characters that will continually surprise the audience. THE CONSTANT GARDENER is a thrilling tale from start to finish. [More]
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Daniele Harford, Hubert Kounde, Pete Postlethwaite, Nick Reding, Anneke Kim Sarnau, Donald Apiyo
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Screenwriter: Jeffrey Caine
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
Composer: Alberto Iglesias
Studio: Focus Features
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Reviews for The Constant Gardener
A wildly determined piece of cinema, Gardener ultimately takes on way too much and topples, though very admirably.
Fiennes has seldom been better, but then has he ever been bad? He’s indeed our Montgomery Clift for this new millennium: sensitive, moral, and yet strong.
It might inspire you to haul out those garden spades and get digging.
A complex, timely tale that spurs you into conversation at its conclusion.
[Fiennes] gives an Oscar-worthy portrayal, holding us with his quivering half-smile and his wounded eyes.
This is an extremely well made movie, and despite it's ham-handed politics, is well worth a look-see.
For an English-language movie with recognizable stars, its measure of social maturity can be startling, but it's also a bristling demonstration of the formal difficulty of liberal narrative, and of ambitious third-world tourist-cinema.
The Constant Gardener is a masterful mixture of suspense, Third World strife and a heartfelt love story for the ages.
Stunning cinematography...propulsive narrative momentum and solid characterizations
City of God director Fernando Meirelles invests Le Carré's political thriller with a moving story of love lost, then most profoundly found.
A gripping thriller, an unbelievably romantic love story, and a biting political take-down of pharmaceutical corporations that have Godlike power over life and death.
The Constant Gardener is a movie with something to say, and it speaks its message loudly and with eloquence.
The fact that none of the above is satisfactorily answered, and that we nevertheless emerge from the movie feeling nourished and stirred, is a tribute to Meirelles and, of course, to le Carré.
People murdered in Africa, a plague on the way and large corporations behaving badly. Tea at the British embassy, anyone?
It is a complex story and it’s the kind of thing where afterward, you really want to think about this movie and talk about it.
A gloriously rich cinematic experience [that] combines an intelligent script with awards-worthy performances and innovative direction.
A bit staid in its thriller mechanics...[but] engaging in its drama, amusing in its fragments of bone-dry wit, and suspenseful in its dual mystery.
Human indignation and social intent run throughout, and the heart is in the right place, but that does not spark the creature to life.
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