Film Diary: The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles, 2005)

There was always something about John le Carré's writing that had a ring of authenticity about it, as well as being a cracking good read. That was especially true of his Cold War work, even when he still maintained his cover and when he finally came out as a real live Cold War spook, nobody was seriously surprised. He went off the boil with glasnost, you felt that he was less sure of the post-communist world. But then he came out with The Constant Gardener, and somehow you felt that he was on to something he really knew about again.

The film pulls punches, of course - don't they always? But all the same it's one that grips you in that way that means two hours have passed before you've even realised its got going, and any dissatisfaction at the end is only that you want it to go on and on. And that the ending lacks the gut-wrenching that comes with the book.

How could anybody doubt that corruption goes on? Poverty and Big Business feed off each other in the perfect symbiosis, and poor people a long way off are dispensable if the alternative is losing a competitive edge. And it's all so well done - Rachel Weisz stunningly cynical when it comes to getting what she needs, though always true to hubby in her fashion. And why Ralph Fiennes didn't get an Oscar as the lowly and bewildered civil servant coming to realise that he wasn't being taken for a ride after all, and finding a well of personal strength to carry on the work.

The only thing wrong with this British film is that it didn't get much of a showing when on general release - like far too many of the best films being made.