Terrible movie

I halfheartedly agree with alot of your problems with it. Nothing stood out that really wow'ed me, was expecting more from it. But I woulnt call it terrible, just overrated.

To say Weisz's character was "despicable" equals a statement that is totally off the mark. Yes, I agree that she wasn't putting Justin (Fiennes) first in her life, but that's a personal choice. It's not a "despicable" choice when the ulterior motivation is a greater cause that can help, and potentially save, the lives of many unsuspecting people.

Weisz's character was clearly looking to make a mark with her life, and she was unwilling to let atrocities go unnoticed. Guinea pig deaths for the sake of drug testing? A conspiracy that was causing people their lives, simply for an eventually significant monetary return (isn't that always the case?)? She wasn't going to sit back and watch it happen. She wanted to make a difference. She wanted to save lives.

How is that despicable? It doesn't make her a particularly great wife, but "despicable" is an attack on her character. I don't think that's something that should be attacked, especially when we look at the big picture. Some things are bigger than personal relationships.

Or maybe they aren't.

Who knows?

I recommend you read the book then. I personally did not like the movie either. But one of the nice things of the book is that you get to see things from the different point of views of many of the characters involved. Also, I think that the filmmakers were heavy handed with their political leanings in this movie, and that is coming from a pretty left leaning liberal.

And she did not sacrifice her baby. She lost the baby, which spurred her even more to help the people around her.

definitely agree with you about tessa's character...nothing she does throughout the film deserves any sympathy whatsoever. i also didn't think the movie was brilliant, but did find it a lot better after another viewing

I wouldn't call it terrible either, just overrated. The performances, and some other things, were certainly good. I have never been a big Rachel Weisz fan, though. It's because of The Mummy, which I realize isn't her fault. It was the part.

My biggest problem was the demonization of the drug companies, or one of them at least. What if people watch this thinking it's true? This is a pretty egregious example of the anti-business stereotype in movies.

The two leads didn't really work as a couple for me. And they depicted them sleeping together on the first date, and then staying together. That usually doesn't happen in real life--staying together, I mean. When I was young I would see movies like this and think that you could do that and the guy would become your boyfriend, but it doesn't work that way.

Finally I think that they sort of glossed over what is going on in the Sudan. I have never been to the Sudan, and in any case the film was really supposed to be about Kenya, not the Sudan. Still, I get tired of movies and books dancing around the issue of radical Islamist bad behavior, which is a big problem in the Sudan and elsewhere. As far as I know, they are the ones enslaving Christian and Animist children in the Sudan.

"I didn't betray you--I simply put a stop to you."

"If she could have afforded a better level of care, she should have sought it. That's what any mother of any worth would have done"

The baby was still born. The amount you pay the Doctor to delver the dead baby doesn't bring it back to life. Her best friend was the attending physician. These things happen, even with white doctors, even in first world countries.

"Also, she prostituted herself for the sake of information"

Never happened. The deal was made but never consummated. She exploited a man's weakness to get what she wanted. She felt dirty even going that far but felt saving countless lives was worth leading on a leacherous man.

You really were not paying attention while watching the movie. She never prostituted herself, she took advantage of a rather weasily guy to do good for others and she still felt awful about it. Also, someone else already stated that the baby was stillborn. Nothing could be done. So it would not have mattered where she gave birth. And generally giving birth itself is not all that complicated. It is trying, but not complicated. When you hear about women dying from giving birth in third world countries it is because a lack of sanitation and inexperience on the part of really, really young girls giving birth.

Yes, both characters were ridiculous. After Tess breaks down during a boring lecture she should have been committed to a mental hospital, not left free to go home and sleep with the lecturer, who is himself so passive that there is no way he doesn't suffocate on his own tongue.