The Constant Gardener
Book, 2000 by John le Carré
Synopsis:
Justin Quayle, is an unreflective British diplomat whose job in the British High Commission in Nairobi suggests one of Graham Greene's dispossessed protagonists trying to survive in the sultry corruption of foreign climates. President Arap Moi's Kenya is a country in the grip of AIDS, while political machinations maintain a deadly status quo. When Quayle's wife (who has taken more interest in what is happening around her than her husband) is killed, his investigation of her murder leads him into a murky web of exploitation involving Kenyan greed and a major pharmaceutical company eager to promote its "wonder cure" for tuberculosis. As Quayle looks deeper into the company which his wife had been investigating, all he has carefully built around him begins to crumble. The steady accumulation of tension and rigorous delineation of character is emblematic of le Carré at his finest.
Movie, 2005 directed by Fernando Meirelles
Features: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz
Tagline: Love. At any cost.
Awards: Nominated for four Oscars and won one: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Rachel Weisz)
Have you read or seen it? Did you know that the movie was filmed on location in Nairobi, Kenya and the situation there encouraged the cast and crew to set up the Constant Gardener Trust?
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