Constant gardener discussion questions
Questions for discussion (from http://www.damaris.org/content/content.php?type=1&id=317)
How would you describe the characters of Justin and Tessa? What attracts them to each other?
What, if any, significance do you think there is in Justin’s obsessive love of gardening? In what ways is it different from Tessa’s obsession?
How would you describe the relationship between Justin and Tessa? In what ways is it a strong relationship? What are its weaknesses?
Why do you think Tessa keeps so much of her activity secret from Justin? What effect does it have on Justin?
How wise do you think Tessa is in the way she acts? What in your opinion should she do?
Do you think Tessa and Justin really trust each other? Why/why not?
What does Sandy mean when he says, ‘I betrayed her. We all did. You did it by growing flowers’?
What motivates Justin to take up Tessa’s quest to stop the drug trials? What do you think you would have done in his situation?
Sandy says: ‘We're not paid to be bleeding hearts. You know that, Justin.’
Why do the diplomats feel that it is inappropriate to help individuals or worry about the problems facing the poor? Are there any ways in which you have a similar attitude?
Sandy continues: ‘We're not killing people who wouldn't be dead otherwise. Look at the death rate. Not that anybody's counting.’
Do you consider this to be callous or pragmatic? Why? Is it legitimate to see the possibility of treating TB in large numbers of people as a more important concern than the death of some people taking Dypraxa or any other drug? Why/why not?
Why is Sir Bernard Pellegrin (and, by extension, the British Government) unwilling to pay attention to Tessa’s report? What effect does the complicity between governments and multinational corporations have on the world?
Why do you think Justin goes to Lake Turkana to wait for his killers? Does he do the right thing? Why/why not?
What emotions did the film stir up in you? How has it changed you? Do you think it calls for any action? If so, what?
From (http://www.manitowoclibrary.org/en-us/adults/events/critics_choice/details.aspx?event_id=130&caldate=2010,7,6)
Based on the book by John Le Carre
In a remote area of Northern Kenya, the region's most dedicated activist, the brilliant and passionate Tessa Quayle, has been found brutally murdered. Tessa's traveling companion, a local doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Tessa's husband, Justin, is a British career diplomat. Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumors of his wife's infidelities, Justin surprises himself by plunging headlong into a dangerous odyssey, determined to clear his wife's name and "finish what she started."
Film Discussion Questions:
1. To whom or what does the film's title, The Constant Gardener, refer?
2. James Berardinelli says, "There's no mistaking The Constant Gardener for anything other than a 'message movie.'" What is the message?
3. The Constant Gardener is fiction, but the incidents it portrays are based on real-world events from Africa and Asia. Does the filmmaker make the film appear to be fact based?
4. Roger Ebert says, "The fragmented style is the best way to tell this story, both for the novel and the movie. The Constant Gardener is not a logical exercise beginning with mystery and ending at truth, but a circling around an elusive conspiracy. Understand who the players are and how they are willing to compromise themselves, and you can glimpse cruel outlines beneath the public relations facade." Why is the use of fractured narratives and flashbacks conducive to telling this type of story?
5. Meirelles' slow-burning thriller defies strict genre conventions. It's at once a spy movie devoid of gunplay, a political treatise against drug corporation policies and a tightly calibrated murder mystery. But at its core, The Constant Gardener is a love story -- the most tragic kind -- as Justin only comes to understand his wife as he investigates her death. This is Justin's movie, his heartsick quest. Which storyline captivated you the most?
6. What is Tessa referring to when she says, "It's like it's a marriage of convenience and all it produces are dead offspring."
7. Lorbeer says, "Big pharmaceuticals are right up there with the arms dealers." Why is this an important statement about business and political practices regarding drugs and weapons?
8. Lorbeer says, "I only give the food to the women, Mr. Black. Women make the homes; men just make wars... and hooch. Adam was God's first draft - He got it right with Eve. Tell that to your readers, Mr. Black." Why is this an important statement about Africa, as well as the rest of the world?
9. Roger Elder of the Chicago Tribune says of Justin Quayle "He's a bland, shapeless character who gradually finds definition on a grief-fueled journey to unravel the forces behind Tessa's murder." Do you feel the story is about how far Tessa will go to uncover the truth or how far Quayle will go to set things right?
10. Stephaine Zacharek of Salon.com says, "While Tessa sees bureaucracy as the enemy, Quayle is the sort of man who has always had faith in the system, and not just because it has given him such a comfortable life. He needs to believe in a sense of order -- he needs to believe that, with some brainpower and a bit of paperwork, everything will shake out right in the end." How does each way of thinking affect the events in the film, as well as in their marriage?
11. Do you agree or disagree with Stephaine Zacharek’s statement, "the mechanics of the (political) system can be a comfort to us not necessarily because we're lazy or uncaring, but because without them, we're not really sure how to proceed." Does this apply to Quayle’s life? Does this change for him?
12. Tim Knight of Reel.com says the film is "a galvanizing indictment of big business exploiting Africans' misery for profit." How is this shown in the film? Are there other incidents of businesses exploiting disadvantaged people for profits in the news today?
13. As the drug companies pour AIDS drugs into Africa, are they using their programs to mask the testing of other drugs? "No drug company does something for nothing," Le Carre has a character observe. Why is this so disturbing?