The Constant Gardener

For his first film after the acclaimed "City of God", Fernando Meirelles made the unusual choice of big budget John Le Carre adaptation "The Constant Gardener". But while the trappings - and the budget - are somewhat more impressive, at heart this movie deals with very similar themes. It's about exploitation of the hopeless and the poverty-stricken by those in power.

The investigation into his wife's death by British diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) is just our starting point on a journey into the corruption endemic in Africa. Justin's wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz, in an Oscar-winning performance) was a committed activist, while he himself is a pillar of the very establishment she resents. As he discovers more of the reasons behind her murder, so he finds himself falling in love all over again with a woman he never really knew.

Meirelles shows a sure touch filming in locations as diverse as Kenya, Germany and the UK, and creates a genuinely compelling international conspiracy of big business in league with governments. His vision of London as a cold, grey city dominated by CCTV cameras is an interesting and paranoid one. Bang up to date with issues like the AIDS epidemic, shady medical trials on the unwitting poor, and even the Iraq war, "The Constant Gardener" is more than just a gripping real world conspiracy thriller. It could, and should, leave you seething with righteous anger about the cynical exploitation of the Third World by the First.