The Constant Gardener [15]

Dir: Fernando Meirelles

Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz

The Constant Gardener is an international film. Brit-written, directed by a Brazilian, shot extensively in Kenya, and crossing continents. No surprise it was chosen to start the 49th London Film Festival this year. At heart it's a quintessentially British movie, a murder mystery with doses of bureaucratic conspiracy theory, from a John Le Carré novel. But famed director Fernando Meirelles gives it the sheen and visual pizzazz that marked his City of God tour de force. Depending on your cinematic palate, the result is either a refreshingly tasty dish or an overdone pudding.

When his activist wife is found murdered in Kenya, quiet British diplomat Justin (Ralph Fiennes), begins to ask why. But the flirtatious Tessa has seemingly been having an affair. And no one expects Justin to pursue Tessa's allegations of pharmaceutical malpractice. What he uncovers will shatter what he thought he knew about Tessa, his friends and his employer.

Meirelles likes to play with time, Pulp Fiction style. Tessa is dead within five minutes. He then interweaves the development of her relationship with Justin so that she's present throughout. Justin's investigations are similarly rearranged. The trick works, as it did in City of God, in its ability to upend expectations. Scenes are set up which, when replayed later, yield a completely different understanding. If that were the only trick, the film might have worked better. Ultimately, Gardener is often difficult to watch not because of the sensitive subject matter but because of the overly flashy and messy camerawork. In City of God the cuts, jumps and frantic tracking-shots suited the episodic, meandering material. Here it goes overboard - with an almost constant flow of visual trickery that only gets in the way of the story. Of course there are some amazing images - but so there are with any pack of photos if you take enough snaps. The wobbly hand-held cameras may suggest a commitment to realism. But mostly the zippy-edits say 'look at me, am I not a great director?'. Not if you do that.

Fiennes and Weisz deserve better, for they're both excellent. Fiennes wrings every ounce from a restrained performance. Weisz is spot-on as the complex and annoying activist. Bill Nighy scene-steals brilliantly. And Pete Postlethwaite's amusing South African accent travels the globe in a vain search for authenticity. Sound and music are top-notch and the subtle paralleling of the African and English scenes is well done. But while the ending may be true to the book, the reasons given for it in the script are inconsistent with what's gone before.

The Constant Gardener is a refreshingly intelligent film with a genuine concern for its subject matter. Laudably, and unusually, not only can you pay to see this film, you can also donate to The Constant Gardener Trust which Fiennes, Weisz, Le Carré and Meirelles have set up to provide community projects in Africa. You can't argue with commitment like that.