The Constant Gardener

Fernando Meirelles shot part of the film on 16 mm and on location, in the Kibera slum of Nairobi and in Loiyangalani. Conditions there marked the crew enough that producer Simon Channing Williams set up the Constant Gardener Trust for sanitation and schooling in the area. Kate Winslet and Eva Green were considered for Tessa before the part went to Rachel Weisz. Lupita Nyong’o worked on the production crew here and credits Ralph Fiennes with turning her towards acting. The closing credits carry not the film’s own words but John le Carré’s dedication and part of his afterword from the novel: the book is for the aid worker Yvette Pierpaoli, and the afterword says how tame his story reads beside the reality he found. At the 78th Academy Awards the film took 4 nominations and won once, Weisz for supporting actress, a role that also brought her the 63rd Golden Globe. At the 59th BAFTAs it led the field with 10 nominations and came away with a single award, for Claire Simpson’s editing. A good fit if you want the story ordered by what Justin learns rather than by the calendar, with Tessa assembled from flashbacks. Not for viewers expecting a reckoning on screen; the accounting is finally done by a letter read aloud at a memorial service.