Movie Review - Constant Gardener - Heavy
In a remote area of Northern Kenya, the region's most dedicated activist, the brilliant and passionate Tessa Quayle, has been found brutally murdered. Tessa's traveling companion, a local doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Sandy Woodrow, Sir Bernard Pellegrin, and the other members of the British High Commission assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle, will leave the matter to their discretion. They could not be more wrong.
Another movie I've been hearing about for quite some time but I've only recently gotten around to watching it.
The director Fernando Meirelles is the guy who came out with the amazing movie City of God, one of my favourite movies aswell (it's gone straight into #16 on IMDB top 250, it was even in when I watched it first).
The Constant Gardener is a serious film about serious issues, the content is heavy and the acting is breathtaking both Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes put in Oscar worthy performances.
It's a gripping story told again with the end at the beginning, flashback, great pace, solid character development and beautiful scenery.
It addresses a the hard hitting topic of unethical mass drug testing on populations of poor countries, it is a work of fiction...but it could be real.
It's 100% a political thriller and pulls it off perfectly, the reality of Africa hits you smack in the stomach, it's portrayed in a way that really makes you feel something.
It's definately a though provoking and intelligent movie dealing with a complex subject.
The acting throughout is really top notch.
It uses the City of God kind of documentary filming making it feel more realistic, it's gritty and hard hitting and the feeling when you watch it will stay with you for some time.
Amazing film, after all the crappy blockbusters last year, you should watch this now if you haven't and see what a film really can be.
I give it a hard hitting 9/10.
Tags: constant-gardener, fernando-meirelles, Movie-Review, Movies, rachel-weisz, ralph-fiennesPosted in Movies | -
Related Posts:
- Movie Review - Blood Diamond - Gripping
- Movie Review - Rendition - Human Rights!
- Movie Review - Lucky Number Slevin - Complicated
- Movie Review - 16 Blocks - Old Bruce…
- Movie Review - Hitman - Agent 47 - Damn Cool!
- Movie Review - The Kingdom - Serious!
13 Comments so far
Leave a reply
Using
i enjoyed this movie.
Using
i wanna bolo....
Using
Sounds good. I'll stick it on my 'must see' list of movies.
Using
i agree it's a good movie. one of those movies that you can't watch before bedtime.
Using
Yes, gripping, with contemporary issues blended into political thriller.
Rachel Weisz (always stumped by name's sperring!) deserves her Oscar,:) (Congrats, Rachel, inn case she spies this Tiger's Post! never no, yes, Shaolin T?) too bad Ralph did not make it to the finishing line!:(
Using
heard of this one a lot, but whenever i go to my fav pirate, i never get to buy it, as the title sounds kinda sad rite ...
but hey i could be wrong ...
yeah btw, City of God is nice, the slum is real, yeah and to see kid 7 - 8 years old wielding guns which the recoil alone can break off their arm is cool man ... pot-smoking kids are cool ...
Using
A movie with deep thinking.
I thought Felicity Huffman's performance in Transamerica is more worthy of the Oscar.
Btw dude, u haven't review Crash leh?
Using
Dabido: Definately a good idea.
ylchong: I agree, Ralph deserved it too!
earl-ku: Support originals! (Try SS2 or Sg Wang) I loved City of God too, this movie has the same gritty realism and docu style.
spiller: Transamerica, still on my list to watch. It's still in my drafts, I meant to do it LONG ago, quite a while before the Oscars actually, just never got round to it. It's been so long though I think I'll have to watch it again.
Using
I've watched this movie and I MUST agree it deserves a 9/10, a 10 isn't too much also! It made me burst into tears albeit quietly, for a guy! To all my skeptical friends who think this is a crappy movie about gardeners, think again, go watch it for yourself!
Using
The movie was fantastic but so, so sad....
:~(
*sigh*
They don't make enough movies like this anymore.
Using
ST, if you haven't yet, do watch master and commander: the far side of the universe. i think you'll kind of love it:D
Using
err... world, not universe
Using
hi tx for this post. I am reading the book by le carre, and did not realise they have made a film of it.
i only heard about the book because of an article about le carre in the newspaper saying how good he is in predicting future scenarios.