JOHN le Carr茅 makes a telling comment at the end of his novel The Constant Gardener, which we subsequently used at the end of the titles of the film: 鈥淏y comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard.鈥� As producers of the film, we had a duty to seriously look into that statement.
His novel, which I was inspired to make into a film after reading an advance copy in 2000, is anything but tame. It is a tense thriller about the unethical and manipulative behaviour of drugs companies carrying out clinical trials in Kenya. It is also a touching love story about a British diplomat鈥檚 search for the killers of his wife, murdered while investigating the malpractices of those companies. The story delves into the rapaciousness of big business, the abuse of the African people and governmental corruption.
What had inspired me in the first instance to acquire those rights ahead of Hollywood studios with massively deeper pockets than our own was the passion and anger which le Carr茅 had brought to the book. It was bang up to the minute, a wonderful and touching love story told unusually from a male viewpoint, and a tense thriller dealing with issues that were distressingly relevant when le Carr茅 wrote it and, in my opinion, would remain relevant for years to come.
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Fernando Meirelles, the director, and myself first travelled to Kenya for a recce in January 2004 and I returned every month until the filming started in May that year. Our research 鈥� and I should stress that it was not scientific 鈥� included looking at Brian Woods鈥檚 stunning 2003 documentary for the UK鈥檚 Channel 4, Dying For Drugs, which examines the practices of pharmaceutical companies in the developing world. We also met representatives from aid agencies and non-governmental organisations such as M茅decins Sans Fronti猫res, the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme, all of whom were extremely helpful. In addition, we spoke with people at hospitals where we were looking to film, doctors, nurses and other key workers in the health sector, as well as with church missions, and most importantly with the people in the slums and in the harsh, arid lands north of Nairobi. The information we got just kept us asking for more, and it eventually became clear to me that 鈥� 18 months ago at least 鈥� unauthorised testing was still going on.
One of the main problems we came across was the desperation and anxiety of patients. Unlicensed 鈥減harmacies鈥� proliferate everywhere. If you are ill you just want to be made better, which of course encourages unscrupulous people to repackage drugs and to sell them as whatever they want. You can buy antibiotics without a prescription simply by describing a patient鈥檚 symptoms. Some drugs are just inert powder, and although generic drugs imported from the Indian subcontinent are perfectly good, counterfeits are not.
鈥淒esperation allows unlicensed 鈥榩harmacies鈥� to proliferate鈥�
As a result of making The Constant Gardener, the cast and crew have joined together to create The Constant Gardener Trust, a charity registered in the UK through which we hope to promote development in the areas where we filmed and where we can make a difference. For example in Kibera, a slum city within the city of Nairobi, and the largest slum in Africa with more than a million inhabitants, we are helping to provide fresh water and sanitation. In Loiyangalani, a town 600 kilometres north of Nairobi, we have started to build a secondary school; the first part will open in early 2006. We are also supplying a 10-tonne four-wheel-drive truck which will allow people to travel and sell their goods out of town, and are planning a clinic. When we start looking for benefactors and donors, I may well begin my journey at the pharmaceutical companies鈥� doors.
