The Constant Gardener (2005)

Thriller adapted from the John Le Carre novel, with an emotional dimension you wouldn’t usually expect from that genre. 

Ralph Fiennes plays Justin Quayle, a mild-mannered diplomat whose Amnesty International activist wife (Rachel Weisz) is murdered. In investigating her death he learns that she was killed for what she has discovered about the British government’s collaboration with pharmaceutical companies in Africa.

The acting is tremendous all round, and Fiennes and Weisz are completely believable. The former’s sense of loss is unbearable to behold. Bill Nighy plays Sir Bernard Pellegrin at the Foreign Office and Pete Postlethwaite plays the creator of a deadly drug. 

It’s beautifully shot, with the beauty of the African landscapes contrasting against the ugly goings on perpetuated by corporate greed. 

It’s tensely dramatic and desperately sad, but also achingly romantic. That’s a lot to weave together, but director Fernando Meirelles pulls it off.

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