The Constant Gardener (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Constant Gardener

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caption = Promotional poster for "The Constant Gardener"
director = Fernando Meirelles
producer = Simon Channing-Williams
writer = Jeffrey Caine (screenplay)
John le Carré (novel)
starring = Ralph Fiennes
Rachel Weisz
Hubert Koundé
Danny Huston
Bill Nighy
John Sibi-Okumu
Packson Ngugi
Archie Panjabi
music = Alberto Iglesias
cinematography = César Charlone
editing = Claire Simpson
distributor = Focus Features
released = August 31, 2005
runtime = 129 min
country = flagicon|UKUK
flagicon|GermanyGermany
location =
language = English
Swahili
German
Italian
budget = $25,000,000
gross = $82,466,670 (worldwide)
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:307614
imdb_id = 0387131

"The Constant Gardener" is a 2005 drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on the John le Carré novel of the same name. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a man who seeks to find the motivating forces behind his wife's murder.

The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Hubert Koundé, Danny Huston, and Bill Nighy. It was filmed on location in Loiyangalani and the slums of Kibera, a section of Nairobi, Kenya. The situation affected the cast and crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education for these villages.

Filming locations

* Nairobi, Kenya: British High Commission
* London, England: Gentleman's Club
* Berlin, Germany: NGO clearing house
* Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Research lab (the KDH lab at the end is actually the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg)
* Lokichokio, Northern Kenya
* Southern Sudan: Refugee camp
* Italy: small village
* Lake Magadi: Kenyan Rift Valley (depicting Lake Turkana)

Awards

The film was nominated for the 2005 Golden Globe Awards in the following categories: Best Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Rachel Weisz). Weisz won the Best Supporting Actress at the 2005 Golden Globes for her performance in the film, as well as the 2005 Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Supporting Actress for Weisz, which she won. In their home country, it had the indications for BAFTA 2006, with 10 indications, including Best Film and Best Director, the biggest number of indications between all the competitors, but it won only one prize, Best Editing for Claire Simpson. The film has won the awards of Best Film at the London Critics Circle Film Awards, British Independent Film Awards and Evening Standard British Film Awards. The film also gained the SDFCS Awards. Weisz has won 6 awards for the film altogether. The film won 3 prizes for Best Film respectively. Overall to date, the film has won 18 awards and a further 40 award nominations.

Criticism and controversy

Reviews have generally been very positive. [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/constant_gardener/ The Constant Gardener's review summary at RottenTomatoes] , retrieved April 12, 2007] However, some have suggested that the movie missed an opportunity to be more critical of the pharmaceutical industry and how some of its practices impact Africa. Sonia Shah, writing for "The Nation", [ [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050912/shah 'The Constant Gardener': What the Movie Missed ] ] called the film a "flawed indictment of Big Pharma's complicity in African illness and poverty" and said the movie is unrealistic. Ty Burr of the "Boston Globe" said the movie diminishes "the real urgency of the West's humanitarian disconnect from Africa. If it sends audiences home to log on to the Amnesty International website, terrific -- but that still doesn't make it a very good movie." [ [http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=7872 The Constant Gardener Movie Review - The Constant Gardener Movie Trailer - The Boston Globe ] ] Michael Atkinson of the "Village Voice" criticized the movie as "a cannonballing mélange of hack-cuts, impressionistic close-ups, and tropical swelter." [ [http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0535,atkinson,67300,20.html The Constant Gardener: A Mature le Carr'e Adaptation by Michael Atkinson] ]

The DVD versions were released in the U.S. on January 1, 2006 and in the UK on March 13, 2006.

References

External links

*imdb_title|id=0387131|title=The Constant Gardener
*rotten-tomatoes|id=constant_gardener|title=The Constant Gardener
*mojo title|id=constantgardener|title=The Constant Gardener
* [http://www.constantgardenertrust.org/ Constant Gardener Trust]
* [http://www.brokenprojector.com/wordpress/?p=54 The Handheld Realism of 'The Constant Gardener']