Someone's been dropping DVDs on the giveaway shelves at my apartment building. This was the only one to interest me so far. I didn't know any more than the gawky title when it was new, but once I read that it was a political thriller from John le Carré, I figured on checking it out. His work had been hit (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold) and miss (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) to me, but at least I'd get a better feel for him.
English diplomat and, yes, gardener Justin (Ralph Fiennes) falls for Amnesty International activist Tessa (Rachel Weisz) and agrees to take her to Kenya, where he's headed for work. They marry, but much of her present activity remains unknown to him. When she dies in a remote area, it's clearly murder, but by whom and why? He soon learns that she was on the verge of blowing the whistle on a shady, powerful drug company, which now threatens to off him too if he keeps sniffing around.
DVD extras indicate that the film deviates greatly from the book, but with the author's blessing. The important message is still there, and boy is it ugly: Even seemingly well-meaning corporations may treat poor sub-Saharan Africans without human dignity, in this case as guinea pigs for high-risk medicine, without proper oversight. Don't assume they'd treat well-off White westerners any better if said westerners stand in the way of profits. I don't know how true this, and I'm afraid to find out, but le Carré claims to have found the truth even worse. (At least he's still with us.) At any rate, the story is effective at engendering righteous anger.
There had been some concern that audiences wouldn't go for a movie set in Africa, barring a Tarzan-type adventure. Actually, TCG came amid a slight fad in the mid-2000s that included Hotel Rwanda, Beyond the Gates, Blood Diamond, and The Last King of Scotland. Clearly, there was some demand for shedding light on how terrible things were for much of the continent.
One sort of nice thing that stands out about TCG is that it was filmed on location in Kenya with a mostly authentic cast. The natives didn't even have lines, for the most part, yet neither were they always standoffish; they delivered some unscripted dialog. The filmmakers loved working there, tho I'm sure they'd hate to live there. Hope the natives felt the same about them.
As le Carré adaptations go, this one's pretty easy to follow. That may have something to do with the protagonist not being a professional spy. We get some flashbacks, but unlike in TTSS, nothing confused me for long. Of course, the tradeoff is that it might seem too simple for intrigue. Justin doesn't do a whole lot to impress us. Perhaps the filmmakers wanted to make certain our minds would be on the message.
If any aspect confused me, it was the cinematography. Sometimes the camera would focus on things as if they were clues, such as a pointing statue, but they evidently never mattered. Intentional red herrings? Conveying Justin's growing paranoia, however valid? I'm not sure. There are definitely shots that could use better centering.
The other part that didn't sit right with me was the romance. Justin and Tessa do not first meet under what I would call promising circumstances. In fact, they start out with rather public hostility on Tessa's part. Forgiveness is one thing; moving right on to the bedroom (graphically) is another. They hardly know each other before marriage. When he comes to suspect her of adultery and later confirms how she used him, he doesn't appear to lose any love for her. Maybe you like such stories for their affirmation of the power of love, but I just shook my head.
I don't quite put TCG on par with the aforementioned films set in Africa, but it is a worthy le Carré entry. See it when you feel like being sore at international injustice.
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