The Constant Gardener

Last night I popped out to catch the film The Constant Gardener before it ends its lengthy run at the Palace Cinemas here on Norton Street, and I'm glad I did. A great film. It was made by City of God director Fernando Meirelles, and like that film didn't hold back in any way. The story was about the corruption between high levels of western and African governments and the pharmacutical companies, following the story of a timid English diplomat called Quayle, and his headstrong wife who secretly from her husband, starts to uncover a scandal involving drug testing in Africa and is killed along with a doctor, while travelling the sudan. Quayle then picks up the trail and uncovers all manner of corruption and confronting situtaions ranging from the corruption of the British and African governments to aid workers, hired goons, activists and so on. It was quite a complex film and kept me guessing right until the end, which is quite unusual. A sad film in many respects that takes it's subject matter head on, with no compromises. While not as full on as City of God, it still packs a pretty powerful punch about an issue many people are probably pretty ignorant to. If you haven't seen it, hire it on DVD when it comes out.