The Constant Gardener
It’s like it’s a marriage of convenience and all it produces are dead offspring.
Beginnings …
This year, coincidently, or otherwise, I have seen many movies which are based on real life, heart wrenching stuff - the Constant Gardener being one of them.
I haven’t seen any promos of the film (it was recommended to me by a friend), but I’ve heard that the promos are misleading which would spoil the film for you if you take it as a murder mystery.
The movie is NOT really an edge of the seat murder mystery and it does not even have its “adrenaline moments”, but for what its worth, it is a very well made movie.
The people
The movie stars Ralph Fiennes (Schlinders List, Maid in Manhattan, The Prince of Egypt) as an English High commission Diplomat who is posted in Kenya and Rachel Weisz (Mummy, Runaway Jury, Constantine) as his wife.
Both of them being the very talented actors they are, do complete justice to their roles.
In fact, Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress for her role in this film at the Oscars this year.
The movie is actually based on a novel by the same name by John le Carre’ and is directed by Fernando Meirelles who is also the director of the very critically acclaimed film : City of God.
The movie …
The overall movie plays extremely slow but is nevertheless intriguing and keeps you glued to your seat.
The story from the synopsis (no, this will not at all spoil the movie for you) is that the wife of a British Diplomat gets murdered in Kenya and he decides to get to the bottom of this.
In doing so, he uncovers many hidden secrets, relating to industrial corruption and how big companies take advantage of third world countries.
Like I said, the movie plays a bit slow throughout and you have to pay attention to the dialogues to actually get engrossed into the movie.
The movie is shot and edited in such a way, that you get a third person perspective of the film. Like something is happening on screen - but you are not involved in it.
This goes on till just before the movie ends - and in those last five minutes, you are sucked into the movie and begin to empathize with all the characters.
In such, the cinematography and the editing are very nicely done.
Most of the movie is shot in Africa - and we are shown the bad, barren side of Africa throughout the movie - the dying refugees, bandits, barren rocky deserts, etc.
Musings …
The movie takes a shot at the pharmaceutical companies around the world and how they use third world countries to their advantage by treating their people as expendable guinea pigs.
The movie is quite depressing at parts and makes you realise that everything is not right with the world and greed, corruption and power result in utter inhuman practices.
If you’re one of those people who care about the world, the environment and liked movies which deal with such issues, you will love this film.
In conclusion …
The original score of the movie is hauntingly beautiful and helps you connect with the film.
The film was nominated for the Oscars in four categories including editing, derived screenplay, original score and supporting actress — which Rachel Weisz won.
For the two hours and 10 minutes that you will spend watching this movie, its well worth the time.
3/11/2006
Million Dollar Baby
That’s how life is really - and thats what the movie aims to tell you and does a pretty good job at doing it too …
You fall down, you get up and then you get back at what you were doing
Thats what the Million Dollar Baby is all about.
I admit that I caught this movie pretty late, and am extremely glad that I did it.
My first impression after seeing the promos and stuff was that its going to be another boxing movie, well … I couldn’t be more wrong.
The movie tells us a story of a girl (Hillary Swank), a waitress from more than 20 years, who has nothing in the world except her dream to be the best female boxer there is … and of a man (Clint Eastwood) who gives her a shot at getting there.
This movie has many, many layers to it - and I bet everytime you see it, you’ll learn something new from it.
The film is directed and produced by Clint Eastwood and he also stars in it, along with Morgan Freeman. Hillary Swank plays the main role and she won an oscar for best actress for her role in the film.
The film is not just another boxing movie - though the fights are pretty intense and a lot of fun to watch (though they don’t compare to the adrenaline pumping rocky fights), they are still brilliantly choreographed.
The rest of the movie plays pretty slow, but is nevertheless very engaging and I never found the movie to lag anyplace.
At two hours, ten minutes, it is the perfect length to watch - and keeps you hooked throughout.
The movie is actually based on three short stories from Jerry Boyd’s book: ‘’The Monkey Look,'’ ‘’Million $$$ Baby'’ and ‘’Frozen Water.'’
As such, the screenplay is very well written and is one of the reasons that you should watch this film.
The Morgan Freeman narration throughout the film, gives it a ‘’Shawshank Redemption'’ kind of feel and helps take the story forward and connect the pieces together.
All the cast perform brilliantly, the direction is superb and the movie is inspirational and very multi dimensional.
Therefore, a must watch according to me …
End Note
The movie won 4 oscars in all including Best Motion Picture, Best Actress (Hillary Swank), Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman) and best direction (Clint Eastwood)
