CHRISTIAN ETHICS AND THE MOVIES
Review by David A. Thomas
Biomedical Ethics: The Constant Gardener (2005)
Adapted from the novel by John LeCarre, The Constant Gardener refers to the title character, Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), a modest, self-effacing minor British diplomat in Kenya whose hobby is gardening. Both Fiennes and his co-star, Rachel Weisz received Academy Award nominations. Weisz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The movie was named on several "Top Ten" lists of the year. It has been described as a triple play: a romance, a thriller, and a political intrigue. The latter element calls forth some of the major ethical issues that concern us.
The story concerns Quayle`s dogged pursuit of the truth behind the mysterious death of his wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), who might have been involved in an affair with another man. The circumstances of her death were suspicious. On the surface, she was apparently killed by a band of robbers on an isolated road where she should not have been. She and her purported lover, a black doctor with whom she collaborated in health services for the poor, had often traveled together, and on this occasion they were checked into the same hotel. Justin cannot believe the innuendoes his embassy colleagues were spreading about her.
As he probes into her story more deeply, the movie evolves into more of a political intrigue with layers of dark meaning below the surface. The movie is structured as a series of alternating scenes from the present together with flashbacks to the past. The movie begins with a flashback to Justin and Tessa`s first meeting. He`s the speaker at a seminar, and she`s a pesky heckler. Then he surprises her: he remains behind afterwards to continue a dialog with her. Their interaction is a textbook case of opposites attracting. The scene holds twofold importance. First, it launches their beautiful romance; and second, it introduces her as a high-energy political activist. Her passion for justice and reform drives the rest of the story.
Tessa fills a hole in Justin`s life. He invites her to accompany him back to Kenya, as girl friend or as wife. Since that is exactly where she wants to go, and she has instantly fallen in love with him, she accepts that as a proposal, and they marry. There, she directs her energies into the egregious social ills she sees in the Western African regions. Until her untimely sudden death, Justin remains passively oblivious of exactly what she does. When she became pregnant, he remains happy tending his garden, looking forward to having her at home more.
Her charity work takes her into remote areas where AIDS is decimating the population, and Western pharmaceutical companies have become highly visible benefactors of local care agencies by providing medicines and education. Here is where the plot thickens. With Big Pharma, nothing comes free. Tessa is digging into the ongoing a particular company`s drug testing being done among Africa`s castoff peoples, without accountability for human research guidelines. She discovers appalling side effects of one of the research projects, unacknowledged and unremedied by the major pharmaceutical company. Moreover, the company that is involved in the most outrageous consequences to the victims just happens to have connections within the highest official levels of the British diplomatic hierarchy, including Justin`s supervisors.
Justin`s grief-driven unauthorized investigation uncovers the actual circumstances surrounding her death. Early on, he determines the truth of his wife`s relationship with the other man. The black doctor, too, is a committed activist trying to expose corruption in high places. However, for a heretofore-untold reason, he and Tessa could not have been sexually involved. Therefore, the rumors to undermine her reputation were proved both false and deliberate, in order to undermine any information she might have gathered in her activist missions.
Therefore, Justin shifts his suspicions from his wife back to the motivations of those who were spreading falsehoods about her. Also, Justin learned that, when the fatal accident occurred, her trip`s aim was to make an unannounced visit to a secret research project in a remote African community, which would not have been in Big Pharma`s interest for her to make. When Justin undertakes to retrace her steps and make that trip, the story becomes a traditional thriller.
Justin`s redemptive character arc was of a certain type. Recall that following his hasty marriage in pursuit of a hot romance, Tessa`s quick acceptance made him a happy man. He lets her carry all the weight of social responsibility for both of them, while he putters in his garden. With her death, he assumes more and more of her commitment and civic awareness. By the end of the movie, Justin has almost become Tessa reincarnate. Like her, he becomes deeply involved in the same causes. But like Tessa, Justin pays the ultimate price for his choice.
Almost all major pharmaceutical companies are public corporations whose stock values depend on earning new patents for major drugs each year. Their profitable quarterly reports depend on having massive successful R&D constantly going on to assure ever more new drugs in the pipeline. Human drug testing is a major piece of the puzzle. The United States closely regulates drug testing for both safety and efficacy. If a company can offshore its human testing to Third World countries, with large pools of subjects but without strict research controls, as depicted in The Constant Gardner, it could conceivably reap billions of dollars in cost savings and, thus, extra profits.
Christian Ethical Issues. Scientific advances in biotechnology are outstripping all existing ethical guidelines. Bioethics is still in the nascent exploratory stage. What is permissible? What ought to be controlled? Routine constraints that set rigid boundaries for the health field do not apply to many new frontiers, including but not limited to new reproductive technologies, cloning, designer babies, gene patenting, stem cell research, nanotechnology, molecular medicine, longevity extension, identification of at-risk individuals (for such future conditions as Alzheimer`s) in the womb, and many more. On one side, there are scientific voices who argue that anything goes. On the other extreme, there are shrill fears of inevitable "mad-scientist" scenarios.
The Constant Gardner is based on pure fiction, though it is said to be inspired by actual events. The movie`s unethical experimentation on massive numbers of impoverished Africans cannot be specifically linked to any company you can name. Yet the story is plausible because the vulnerable circumstances still remain in that part of the world. It could easily happen tomorrow. The pharmaceutical piece of the rapid growth of bioscience is fraught with numerous opportunities for illegal and unethical practices at the margins. Responsible research methods, properly monitored for safety, can be circumvented merely by outsourcing them to unregulated regions of the world. The Constant Gardner opens a window that looks upon an imagined on-site laboratory with potentially monstrous effects.
