8/3/2019 "The Constant Gardener" PHE 455 Christopher Harley Quick Critique 4

1/2

Christopher Harley Quick Critique #4 The Constant Gardener

PHE 455 Lockwood 1

Positive Aspects

I missed The Constant Gardenerwhen it played in theaters. I watched it on DVD

when it was first released and I now wish that I had looked at the film through the

lens of PHE 455 then as I do now. The film is much more powerful in its political

context then when I had initially watched it. So too in its portrayal of love and thesteps that one goes through to hold onto the fleeting memories of contentment that

existed before the passing of a loved one taken in the tangles of political intrigue.

The politics of Africa, medicine, and multinational pharmaceutical companies

permeates this films plot. The films protagonist, Justin Quayle, finds himself in the

middle of it all. As the films Constant Gardener,Justin is a reserved sort; his

disposition points him away from conflict yet his new love and soon to be wife,

Tessa, is anything but apathetic to Africas status as a continent in development. She

sees in Justin a chance to reach that world and to find her place in it. But Justins

world is one of measured responses, remaining always pragmatic about how to tend

to a patch of earth easily understood, in a space one can control and guide with

patience over time. Thats the inner strength of the gardener. Its seeing somethingfrom germination to flower. Tending to each moment in that span takes patienceand conviction. For Justin, Tessas murder meant that he had to see the flower of

truth, the fruit that this intrigue would bare once he nurtured the clues with his

fertile and persistent care. The question remains whether he followed her murder to

its end because of his love for Tessa or because he wasnt able to turn away from his

need to see that end and in it his own.

Interesting Aspects

The Constant Gardeneris a gritty film. It takes the viewer to another reality and once

there presents a dichotomy between Kenyas privileged visitors, the NGOs, theindustrial contractors, and specifically the multinational corporations tasked with

developing and simultaneously exploiting both the people and the land. In this case

its DHS, a pharmaceutical company developing tuberculosis medication called

Dypraxa that is still deadly to human subjects. Tessa has learned the truth and thats

how she finds herself classified as collateral damage in the gears of global-pharma.

Its a conceit that works well in this setting. The plot is unfortunately believable.

Pharmaceutical research is often conducted outside the purview of governmental

oversight where governments are out of balance. And more often, it is ignored and

forgotten once corporations deliver the finished product and administer the healing.

We cant think it too far from the truth that drug trials might play out this way on a

continent still embroiled in endless border wars, rife with crimes against humanity,ravaged with disease, and off the radar of most persons in the developed world.

The sights, the sounds, the colors are wild. The screen explodes in bright colors at

one moment and eases into muted earth tones the next, all the while remaining hot

and wild. Its a garden untended and untamed and that could be because it is

without a gardener to patiently bring it into order. For Tessa, the garden needs

attention. For Justin, the garden seemed too overwhelming to confront. It would

8/3/2019 "The Constant Gardener" PHE 455 Christopher Harley Quick Critique 4

2/2

Christopher Harley Quick Critique #4 The Constant Gardener

PHE 455 Lockwood 2

take Tessas death to rouse Justin out of his apathy and lure him past the gates of his

kept plot out into the larger sphere of that vine-choked labyrinth.

The films nonlinear approach to storytelling takes us back in time and then to the

present to convey the events leading up to the murder of Tessa and finally that of

Justin, as well. That convention explains a lot but it also lures the audience down apath to perhaps mistaking Tessas intentions with Justin. Did she ever really love

him or did she just use him to get to Africa and to the very figures that would kill her

and Justin in the end. Theres stoicism in me that says that either or both is possible.

Tessas needs were met. She was committed to her place in Kenya, among its people

and its troubles. It was her nature and love and marriage would always be second to

that commitment. Justin would have to learn that over time and on the way, he

would doubt her love for him until he reconciled his wifes calling with that of his

own; to tend that garden that one sees as possible, measure by measure, season by

season.

From monarchial conquest and colonization to democracy and capitalism, Englandhas still remained a country upon which the sun has never set. In The Constant

Gardenerwe are shown the same hand of imperialism now clad in a glove of

pretending toward altruism and selfless humanitarianism. But to do what charity

can, money has to lead the charge. Somebody has to be paid and collateral damage is

often the payment for assistance. Africa remains chaotic six years after this film. The

troubles highlighted here continue unabated with few signs showing any change to

come. I fear that the only real change has been the vantage point that more of us can

share. Its the face of Africa thatbecomes all the more clear but its visage leaves too

many of us numb to the circumstances.

Negative Aspects

Its notJohn le Carr unless there are spy gadgets and theres no unweaving of the

plot without the gadget guy to zoom in on blurry photos with his depixelator

contraption. Its a fairly contrived plot device but it showed up here and I guess it

had to. Ham, Tessas cousin and father to her nephew, Guido, help Justin in his work

to get to the bottom of the digital world were Tessa has safely spirited away her

damning evidence. Her email account is hacked by Guido, freeing this evidence to

allow Justin to connect the dots. Again, he had to. Theres no story without the

villains being exposed and the martyrs vindicated. Its convenient but I shouldnt

fault the author for its use. Without itwed have a man left with too many questions

unanswered and a garden left fallow. Perhaps in this case well call John le Carrsdevices the hothouse needed to bring forth the flower of truth that wraps this story

into a perfectly splendid bouquet.