Movie review: Constant Gardener

I was totally looking forward to this movie. Even before I knew what it was about, the trailer looked awesome! Then when I found out it was about an evil pharmaceutical company, I thought it was even more appropriate that I see it.

I was nauseous.

Not because I was sick to my stomach for working for an evil industry, or how corruption has destroyed any chance for the African population. It was because the cinematography was a piece of shit. Shakey close-up, out of focus shots so prevalent in movies that hope to add "realism". So you're on their thrill ride. Quite frankly, fuck that shit. I hate it so much. It's Blair Witch all over again. I was so sick after the movie and I had to keep averting my eyes from the giant moving screen. If I want realism, I'd go and live my life. If I'm at a movie, I'm trying to escape said life. It's out of focus and shakey enough as it is.

And really, it didn't make sense anyway. I guess if I knew nothing about drug companies, I'd buy it. But it makes no sense to gather crappy safety and efficacy data on an African population. You wanna make money, you gotta file in north america and europe. You wanna file in NA or EU, you gotta have clinical data from NA and EU. If I were an evil company, it'd be much more useful to simply infect the people with my pathogen of choice, then test my panel of drug candidates.

I guess the movie's also about goverment corruption brought on by corporate interests. Yawn. Like we need to leave the continent to see that. Nor can fiction out-shock what them yanks have to offer in that department.

Good acting from the usual suspects of critically acclaimed personel.

3/8 stars

(lost points for adverse event: emesis)

Constant Gardener