Posted on 08/25/2005 8:31:24 AM PDT by goldstategop
Son of The English Patient: Boring "Constant Gardener" is Dreadful, Far-Left, White Guilt Drivel
By Debbie Schlussel
If you were thinking of seeing "Constant Gardener," when it arrives in theaters, next week, save your money.
That is, unless you are into movies where the murderous, evil White man and the big bad pharmaceutical companies they run are the reason for all poverty, illness, despair, and death in Africa. That's the Cliff's Notes version of this celluloid piece of crap: Western White Man, Evil; Innocent African Black Man, Angelic. The stupid, liberal, noblesse oblige crowd who attended the screening just loved it. I guess they enjoy being spanked.
No coincidence that far-left, biased organizations like OxFam and Amnesty International get much positive play in the propaganda "thriller." And one of the heroes of the movie is, surprise, a gay African doctor. Strangely, the marauders who burned, killed, and raped Blacks in Sudan were not identified as the Arab Muslims that they are in real-life Sudan.
No coincidence, either, that this movie stars Ralph Fiennes, the star of the equally boring and predictable, "The English Patient." As "Seinfeld" character Elaine Bennis said about that film, "Just die already." I second that emotion, here.
"The Constant Gardener" is based on a thriller by leftist, anti-Israel novelist John LeCarre. If this boring, obvious propaganda is a "thriller," it's hard to see that anyone has ever been thrilled by this best-selling writer. I struggled to stay awake during this boredom-fest, wasting two hours of my life I can never get back.
LeCarre likes attacking western institutions and allies and propping up unworthy third-world parties. His "The Little Drummer Girl" makes the Israel the villain, a la the White man and drug companies in this film, and Palestinians the victims, like the Africans in "Gardener."
If you buy tickets "Constant Gardener," you are giving tacit approval to his work--and making him even more wealthy and free to spread more such BS.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
The book was ho-hum anyway. Not the best read out there, by far.
It's predictable that they would make this movie into lefty propaganda. I thought the book was actually pretty good - LeCarre is a good writer, as long as you can ignore his political leanings.
And Hollywood wonders why no one's flocking to their product.
It was so-so, slow paced, and anti-climantic, but would have made an OK movie with 90% of the crap cut out.
"THIS is going to be a blockbuster!", said the blind director to the deaf producer.
The only other book in my life with which I had a similar experience was the awful Dutch, the supposed Bio of Ronald Reagan in which Edmund Morris insisted on inserting a ficticious character, his alter ego, throughout the book. This character become more to the story than did RR. Yech!
"Tinker, Tailor,..." was one hell of a miniseries.
I enjoyed "Single and Single" (I think that was the title) as well.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Debbie Schlussel has a right to her opinion. I just disagree.
Disagree on English Patient that is...Ralph Fiennes was pretty cute in that pic.
"Strangely, the marauders who burned, killed, and raped Blacks in Sudan were not identified as the Arab Muslims that they are in real-life Sudan. "
Logic of modern Hollywood and John LeCarre:
Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, Mobutu Seseseko, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Bokassa and number of other African thugs who murdered millions of their compatriots were all White imperialists -:))))))) Actually, they were black Africans, but they must have been working for White European or American Imperialists and the Western pharmaceutical companies because no genuine Black African would ever murder or starve to death millions of their own. So they must have been White deep inside (BITTER SARCASM) -:))))
LeCarre hit his high point with bring Geoge Smiley back from his minor role in "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold"
and created one of the finest trilogies on paper, goldstategop.
"Tinker, Tailor...", "The Honorable Schoolboy" and "Smiley's People" are definitely not "Speed Reads". Going slow and paying attention are mandatory, but the journey is definitely worth the trip!
The BBC productions of "Tinker, Tailor..." and "Smiley's People" are equally superb, flawlessly cast and directed!
Thank God, both are available on DVD! I nearly wore out my personally recorded Beta (Yes, Beta!)tapes of both from the 1980s.
A pity that LeCarre never reached that Zenith again.
Jack.
Good one - I third it!! I still remember how I felt when I saw "English Patient" - what is it with the english and their morbid love stories?
You ask can we ever trust the Bear? . . . I will give you several answers at once. The first is no, we can never trust the Bear. For one reason, the Bear doesn’t trust himself. The Bear is threatened and the Bear is frightened and the Bear is falling apart. The Bear is disgusted with his past, sick of his present and scared stiff of his future. He often was. The Bear is broke, lazy, volatile, incompetent, slippery, dangerously proud, dangerously armed, sometimes brilliant, often ignorant. Without his claws, he’d be just another chaotic member of the Third World. . . . The second answer is yes, we can trust the Bear completely. The Bear has never been so trustworthy. The Bear is begging to be part of us, to submerge his problems in us, to have his own bank account with us, to shop in our High Street and be accepted as a dignified member of our forest as well as his. . . . The Bear needs us so desperately that we may safely trust him to need us. John Le Carré (b. 1931), British novelist. Smiley, in The Secret Pilgrim, ch. 12 (1990).
kinda hard to believe it's the same guy...
Yeah I saw the preview for it when I went to see The Great Raid. At first I thought it was a Michael Moore film. Another hollywierd loser that will end up in the red.
Read "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. True story that will make you ask yourself difficult questions about your own priorities.
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