The Constant Gardener

Ignore the rather boring-looking poster. This is actually a pretty good film. Directed by Fernando Meirelles, the guy responsible for the edgy City of God, The Constant Gardener is filmed with the same dynamic style. Justin Quayle is a British diplomat based in Kenya who uncovers a huge conspiracy involving big pharmaceutical companies and the British government. I won't mention any more spoilers but you get the idea...

A couple of years ago, I spent about 10 weeks in South Africa as part of a study abroad program with the University of Chicago. In between enjoying the awesome weather, being shocked by the majesty of Table Mountain, and spending a week looking for lions at Kruger, I actually wrote a paper on the portrayal of Africa in Western film and the politics of power that often surround such an endeavor. Since then, I have been hyper sensitive to people refering to "Africa" as if it were a unitary actor, especially in the context of missions work and international aid.

After the time spent in South Africa, I headed up to Kenya with a couple of friends, one of whom whose mother was/is a missionary there. [Sunny: if you're reading this, let me know what you thought of the film] What truly struck me about Kenya was the sheer poverty gap that existed between the locals and the foreigners. The UN presence in Kenya is pretty strong and the material difference between local areas and areas frequented by the international community is rather ridiculous. One moment you're travelling on a bumpy road with no streetlights, and the next moment you see a shopping outlet complete with movie theatre and fine restaurants. It's as if you are no longer in the same country.

It was with this background that I approached this film. Honestly, I don't know what I should think about the storyline of the film. The film does not give much agency to the local people, with both the heroes and villains originating from the West. To a certain extent, that is probably reflective of the actual situation on the ground, where alot of international aid is poured into the continent in part to alleviate the guilt of Western excesses. Bearing in mind the less-than-desirable track record of the World Bank and the IMF in Africa, the question remains of how should we best respond to the poverty and social injustice that exists in the so-called "3rd World" and how do we address the problem structurally without causing even more problems in the process?

One recurrent theme in the film is the apathy arising from mentality that there are so many people in need that you can't possibly help everyone of them. The response from the film's heroes, "This one we can help, here." (The irony is that the said "one"s don't get helped in the end) I guess that is something we should think about even in our own day to day context. Nobody is going to solve homelessness overnight, but meanwhile we should do what we can.