The Constant Gardener    Dir Fernando Meirelles   2005
Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz

John le Carre’s return to brilliant form is excellently realised in this movie. Not just about the corruption inherent in the pharmaceutical industry, it can be seen as a wider critique of the system that puts profit above human life.
The personal becomes intensely political as the tensions between diplomacy, commerce, and humanism explode in two cracking performances from the stars.

The real star though is Africa, which is here seen in all her raw complexity – exploited and exploiting, beautiful and terrible.
A social realist romantic thriller – a film that successfully melds three genres to create a masterpiece.