spiritual awakening and enlightenment in today’s world

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. —Bertrand Russell

The Constant Gardener

September 18th, 2005 Posted in Movies / TV / Stage, Peace and Justice

Constant Gardner poster This is easily the best film I’ve seen this year. It’s a conspiracy thriller that breaks all the rules: there are no long chase scenes, no fights, no James Bond-esque heroics, no dramatic explosions, no wrenching suspense, and no pat happy ending. But it works, and works brilliantly.

Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles (City of God) weaves languidly in and out of linear story-telling and stream-of-consciousness with flashbacks used in a unhurried, dreamlike way. Rather than just seeing the love that Justin and Tessa Quayle have for each other, we feel it, in meandering sequences of snapshots, home videos, and flashbacks lovingly photographed.

Interspersed in this intimate tangle of images and experiences, is the unfolding mystery: Justin (Ralph Fiennes), an experienced, middle-level British diplomat in Africa, is trying to solve the mystery of the murder of his wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz), whose activism on behalf of Africa’s poor has begun to make many enemies. Even worse, he began doubting her faithfulness to him shortly before she was killed. Read more…

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