With Rachel Weisz, you can always count on an intelligent conversation. The actress who took firsts at Oxford (think an A, but much, much rarer), has more than proven her versatility over the years from historical dramas such as THE LAND GIRLS and ENEMY AT THE GATES, to raw social commentary in THE SHAPE OF THINGS that was as sharply satirical as it was devastatingly on target in its meditation on the state of gender relations.
In THE CONSTANT GARDENER, the subject is economic colonialism and human rights, something that came to mean much more to the actress when she found herself on location in Africa. That topic dominated the talk, and Weisz was as articulate as she was passionate about the part every person plays in global responsibility. She still found the time, though, to mention her upcoming film with Hugh Jackman, THE FOUNTAIN, and time-tripping love story with metaphysical overtones written and directed by her fiance, Darren Aronofsky (PI, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM).
Careful plotting baits the audience with its own basest instincts masquerading as common sense and then, like Justin, forces it to rise above them, until the underlying pattern is revealed and the misconceptions are revealed as the product of preconceived notions that mirror those of the world at large. The complicated plot gradually, teasingly, doles out answers that inevitably build to more questions and ultimately a looming sense of the sinister that become more pronounced with every unappetizing discovery
THE CONSTANT GARDENER is a thriller in the classic mold, and can be enjoyed merely on that level. But to miss the larger stories, the base machinations and the overwhelming power of love, would be a crime.
Your Thoughts?