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'The Constant Gardener': A fast-paced, tragic love story

John Le Carre must be one of the most frustrating authors to adapt to the big screen. His serpentine novels of espionage bureaucracy are subtle and intricate, highly dependent on narrative descriptions with little overt action.

Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles — an Oscar nominee two years ago for City of God, his visceral look at gang warfare in the slums of Rio — was an unusual, but inspired choice to bring Le Carre's 2001 thriller The Constant Gardener to the screen.

Focus Features 'The Constant Gardener' A- The verdict: Dark, deep tale of corporate greed and government complicity. Director: Fernando Meirelles Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Archie Panjabi, Bill Nighy Run time: 129 minutes Release date: August 31, 2005 Rating: R for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "The Constant Gardener" Go see it 79.08% 325 Make it a matinee 6.81% 28 Wait to rent 6.08% 25 Don't bother 8.03% 33

This film of outrage over corporate and governmental abuse of Africa is more fast-paced than the usual cerebral Le Carre thrillers. Meirelles keeps his hand-held camera in constant motion, capturing Kenya in all its beauty and squalor, upping the tension without shortchanging the serious themes.

At its center, The Constant Gardener is a love story, though a tragic one. In a screenplay by Jeffrey Caine (GoldenEye) loaded with flashbacks, we learn early on that whistle-blowing social activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) has been raped and murdered. But by whom? And for what reason?

She is the wife of British High Commission mid-level functionary Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), a pale, tentative diplomat who would rather tend his garden than become involved in the Third World disease and poverty that so impassions her.

They meet when she lobs angry questions at him about Britain's military involvement in Iraq at the end of a university lecture, then takes him home and shags him. It is the beginning of Justin's sexual and political awakening, the latter leading to his discovery of venal practices by the pharmaceutical giants who use Africans as expendable guinea pigs in their tests of AIDS and tuberculosis drugs.

Fiennes is an ideal actor for Le Carre's world, for he expresses so much with the flicker of his eyelid. Watch him silently process the news of Tessa's death or stoically identify her body in the morgue. He is a buttoned-down soul who will inherit his wife's zeal for righting injustice and, as he burrows further into the shadows of this increasingly dark yarn, his Justin grows more demonstrative and goes a bit mad.

Weisz radiates intelligence and sensuality as Tessa. She knows exactly how to tease and deflate her husband, just as she knows the most prickly things to say to tainted officials at a civilized cocktail party. The strong supporting cast includes Danny Huston (Silver City) as an oily commissioner with lecherous designs on Tessa and Bill Nighy (Love, Actually) as a nasty, knighted impediment with implacable British reserve.

City of God demonstrated Meirelles' touch with amateur performers and here he shows he can draw fine work from seasoned pros. His longtime collaborator, cinematographer Cesar Charlone, contributes mightily to the movie's look, with his oversaturated earth tones throughout sunny Africa and contrasting bleached-out views of Europe. Editor Claire Simpson (Academy Award winner for Platoon) packs a lot of visual information in a short span as she quick-cuts among Meirelles' fragmentary images. And note the atmospheric boost from Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias, working with African folk themes and instruments.

As with most Le Carre, there are layers of deceit and betrayal to peel away, to get to the rotting underbelly of global greed. As The Constant Gardener descends into darkness, it has the grimy feel of a modern Chinatown, in which the little guy can try to expose flagrant evil but rarely slows its forward march.