Subtly powerful ... Review on The Constant Gardener Movie

It's like it's a marriage of convenience and all it produces are dead offspring.

Beginnings ...

This year, coincidently, or otherwise, I have seen many movies which are based on real life, heart wrenching stuff - the Constant Gardener being one of them.

I haven't seen any promos of the film (it was recommended to me by a friend), but I've heard that the promos are misleading which would spoil the film for you if you take it as a murder mystery.

The movie is NOT really an edge of the seat murder mystery and it does not even have its ''adrenaline moments'', but for what its worth, it is a very well made movie.

The people

The movie stars Ralph Fiennes (Schlinders List, Maid in Manhattan, The Prince of Egypt) as an English High commission Diplomat who is posted in Kenya and Rachel Weisz (Mummy, Runaway Jury, Constantine) as his wife.

Both of them being the very talented actors they are, do complete justice to their roles.

In fact, Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress for her role in this film at the Oscars this year.

The movie is actually based on a novel by the same name by John le Carre' and is directed by Fernando Meirelles who is also the director of the very critically acclaimed film : City of God.

The movie ...

The overall movie plays extremely slow but is nevertheless intriguing and keeps you glued to your seat.

The story from the synopsis (no, this will not at all spoil the movie for you) is that the wife of a British Diplomat gets murdered in Kenya and he decides to get to the bottom of this.

In doing so, he uncovers many hidden secrets, relating to industrial corruption and how big companies take advantage of third world countries.

Like I said, the movie plays a bit slow throughout and you have to pay attention to the dialogues to actually get engrossed into the movie.

The movie is shot and edited in such a way, that you get a third person perspective of the film. Like something is happening on screen - but you are not involved in it.

This goes on till just before the movie ends - and in those last five minutes, you are sucked into the movie and begin to empathize with all the characters.

In such, the cinematography and the editing are very nicely done.

Most of the movie is shot in Africa - and we are shown than bad, barren side of Africa throughout the movie - the dying refugees, bandits, barren rocky deserts, etc.

Musings ...

The movie takes a shot at the pharmaceutical companies around the world and how they use third world countries to their advantage by treating their people as expendable guinea pigs.

The movie is quite depressing at parts and makes you realise that everything is not right with the world and greed, corruption and power result in utter inhuman practices.

If you're one of those people who care about the world, the environment and liked movies which deal with such issues, you will love this film.

In conclusion ...

The original score of the movie is hauntingly beautiful and helps you connect with the film.

The film was nominated for the oscars in four categories including editing, derived screenplay, original score and supporting actress -- which Rachel Weisz won.

For the two hours and ten minutes that you will spend watching this movie, its well worth the time.