The Constant Gardener ****

The beginning of the movie is rather disjointed, but you are drawn into the love story element of the two main characters immediately. Rachel Weisz as Tessa and Ralph Fiennes as Justine are the heart of this movie. They transcend the material and manage to give you full and complex characters with a truly loving relationship (which you rarely see in a Hollywood movie these days)that you actually care about.

Director Fernando Meirelles (City of God), transports you to Africa with such a cinematic flair you feel as if you have indeed left the theatre for the heart of Africa. The screenplay, based on a novel by John le Carré, is practically ripped from the headlines - just this year they found AIDS drug makers were "fixing" tests of their drugs in Africa - with big drug companies conspiring with governments in secret deals to make millions by fixing tb tests in Africa by disposing of the people who died from the side effects. The movie didn't hold back on any of the atrocities that are a reality in Africa, including a gripping account of the horrors occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Where this movie falters is in the screenplay adaptation itself. The loving relationship between the two main characters is cast aside a third of the way through the movie and leaves you distant from both characters for the sake of intrigue. I don't think this served the movie well, as they are the foundation of the film. Also, they never really delve into the reasons behind Justine's gardening (which they throw into the movie in odd places) or why Tessa felt she had to protect him from the work she was doing. You don't get enough of his character's story line to really understand this.

Overall, the visuals, the characters and the intrigue and conspiracy of this movie make it both thrilling and disturbing - in a money is indeed the root of all evil way. Some of the stories and images will haunt you, as any good movie on a real subject should.