Plot
A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife's murder, big business, and corporate corruption.
Release Year: 2005
Rating: 7.5/10 (65,940 voted)
Critic's Score: 82/100
Director:
Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston
Storyline In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle, will leave the matter to them. They could not be more wrong. Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumors of his late wife's infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him across three continents. Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his own life, stopping at nothing to uncover and expose the truth - a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined.
Writers: Jeffrey Caine, John le Carré
Cast: Ralph Fiennes
-
Justin Quayle
Rachel Weisz
-
Tessa Quayle
Hubert Koundé
-
Dr. Arnold Bluhm
(as Hubert Kounde)
Danny Huston
-
Sandy Woodrow
Daniele Harford
-
Miriam
Packson Ngugi
-
Officer in Morgue
Damaris Itenyo Agweyu
-
Jomo's Wife
Bernard Otieno Oduor
-
Jomo
Bill Nighy
-
Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Keith Pearson
-
Porter Coleridge
John Sibi-Okumu
-
Dr. Joshua Ngaba
Donald Sumpter
-
Tim Donohue
Archie Panjabi
-
Ghita Pearson
Nick Reding
-
Crick
Gerard McSorley
-
Sir Kenneth Curtiss
Filming Locations: Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Berlin, Germany
Box Office Details
Budget: £15,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $10,961,311
(USA)
(4 September 2005)
(1346 Screens)
Gross: $81,079,798
(Worldwide)
(February 2006)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
"Huruma", the play which Tessa Quayle watches in the market place, was directed by Nick Reding who played Crick in the film. It was performed by the Kizingo Arts Troupe.
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes:
When Justin goes to the morgue to identify Tessa's body, there is a body of a boy behind him. After Justin identifies Tessa's body, the "dead" boy's right toe moves.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Justin Quayle:
Oh, thank you Arnold. I... I can manage that. But I still don't see why you couldn't wait a couple of weeks. Why go all the way up to Loki? Tessa Quayle:
Well, we want to hear Grace Makanga speak, and she won't be coming to Nairobi.
User Review
Rachel Weisz truly gives an Oscar worthy performance.
Rating: 10/10
Crisp and heartfelt thriller that gives you the right shot in the arm
with an Oscar caliber performance by Rachel Weisz and an equally Oscar
worthy performance by Ralph Fiennes. This is a film about the horrors
of big business and the way they are willing to experiment on the poor
to achieve their goals. Rachel Weisz plays Tessa, A feisty activist who
uncovers a conspiracy by a pharmacy company to test experimental drugs
on the poor natives of Africa. She then tries to fight them and expose
the conspiracy until she is brutally murdered. Her husband, a quite
diplomat then begins to take up her cause and try to give his departed
wife justice while trying to uncover the hard truth of what is going
on.
Fernando Meirelles Follow up his masterpiece ":City of God" with an
equally satisfying journey of self-discovery, love and Justice. Ralph
Fiennes owns the role of Justin and he takes you into the center this
thrilling journey and into the center of his soul as well. The real
showstopper here is the performance of Rachel Weisz, who gives the
right balance of self-righteousness, heart and determination with her
role. Weisz makes you believe in the film and makes you equally as
determine as Justin and she was in uncovering the conspiracy and
uncovering the true about what had happen to her.
This is one of the best films of the year and if there is any justice
in the world, this baby would be nominated to the hill with Oscars and
Rachel Weisz would get one as well because her performance is easily
the best performance of any actor we have had all this year.
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