View Single Post
Old 11-22-2005, 10:35 PM   #1319 (permalink)
Kostya
Little known...
 
Kostya's Avatar
 
Location: Brisbane, Australia
The Constant Gardener.

There's been a few arguments had over this one. I personally thought it was a quality film. To one side of me are those who claim it is a 'great film' with whom I disagree, and on the other those who assert that it was a complete festering pile of crap with whom I also disagree.

As a thriller the movie worked quite well, though the minor subplot involving his wife's possible dalliances was a little laboured and overwrought in my opinion. The central plot was compelling enough as it was to make the film entertaining.

The real value I thought, was that Meirelles was able to make a profound point regarding human values without becoming a didactic preacher. The poverty and corruption, mindless and ubiquitous tragedy of Africa aren't thrust into our faces and waved like a prize, but are simply there, under the story as a plausible setting for what is essentially a political thriller.

The performances were brilliant, I haven't been this impressed with Ralph Fiennes since Schindlers List, and Rachel Weiss was suprisingly superb also.
Kostya is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37