?Big pharmaceuticals are up there with arms dealers?

So says a leading character in the just-released movie ?The Constant Gardener.? Having seen the film, I can tell you that he means big pharmaceutical companies, not very large pills. The message that pharma is evil is drilled home repeatedly, like a new type of cramming video for some high school social sciences exam. It?s even the focal point of the television trailer. But that?s not what I took from the movie at all. I enjoyed The Constant Gardener as a piece of escapism. It is centered around a touching, beautifully played (if never quite believable) romance. The landscapes of Africa are phenomenal, with the shots overexposed to add an extra dimension of beauty or menace, and fast-paced scenes around Nairobi that are dramatic and colorful. The baddies are Bad, the goodies are in love, the Brits are bumbling, Africa is a basket case. Quite cartoonish. Yet The Constant Gardener...