The Beach (film)

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The Beach

The Beach poster
Directed by Danny Boyle
Produced by Andrew Macdonald
Written by Alex Garland (novel)
John Hodge (screenplay)
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio
Tilda Swinton
Virginie Ledoyen
Music by Various artists
Cinematography Darius Khondji
Editing by Masahiro Hirakubo
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) 2 February 2000
Running time 119 min.
Country USA/UK
Language English
Budget $50,000,000
IMDb profile

The Beach is a 2000 film by the Trainspotting team of writer John Hodge and director Danny Boyle based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Alex Garland. It starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Virginie Ledoyen.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young American backpacking in Thailand, has a goal to discover something original. He is given a map to an island, that was supposed to exist only in myth, by Daffy, a man who slit his wrists and died that same morning. This island was paradise everyone said, but nobody knew where it was. With two newfound friends, Françoise and Étienne, Richard sets out on a journey to find the island and unravel its mysteries.

When they first arrive they discover a huge field of marijuana (guarded by farmers armed with AK-47s) and later a secret community of travelers. At first he believed that he had found actual paradise. Then betrayal, death, passion, and ghosts of the past turn Richard to insanity and isolation. He finally understood that paradise comes with a price, and the price was too high.

[edit] Controversy

Controversy arose during the making of the film due to 20th Century Fox's bulldozing and rescaping of the natural beach setting of Ko Phi Phi Leh to make it more "paradise-like". The production altered some sand dunes and cleared some coconut trees and grass to widen the beach. Fox set aside a fund to reconstruct and return the beach to its natural state, however lawsuits were filed as many believed the damage to the ecosystem is permanent and restoration attempts failed.[1]

The lawsuits dragged on for years. In 2006, Thailand's Supreme Court upheld an appeal court ruling that the filming had harmed the environment and ordered that damage assessments be made. Defendants in the case included 20th Century Fox and some Thai government officials.[2]

After the film premiered in Thailand in 2000, some Thai politicians were upset at the way Thailand was depicted in the film, and called for it to be banned. The depiction of the drugs culture gave Thailand a bad image and a Buddha image in a bar was cited as "blasphemous", they said.[3]

[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack

The Beach OST
The Beach OST cover
Compilation album by Various Artists
Released 21 February 2000
Label Wea
Producer(s) Pete Tong

The soundtrack for the film features "8 Ball" by Underworld, as well as tracks by Orbital, Moby, Blur, New Order, Faithless, Leftfield, and others. The All Saints song "Pure Shores" topped the UK Singles Chart. The soundtrack was co-produced by Pete Tong.

[edit] Track listing

  1. Snakeblood - Leftfield
  2. Pure Shores - All Saints
  3. Porcelain - Moby
  4. Voices - Dario G
  5. 8 Ball - Underworld
  6. Spinning Away - Sugar Ray
  7. Return of Django - Asian Dub Foundation
  8. On Your Own - Blur
  9. Yéké Yéké (Hardfloor Edit) - Mory Kante
  10. Woozy - Faithless
  11. Richard, It's Business As Usual - Barry Adamson
  12. Brutal - New Order
  13. Lonely Soul – UNKLE featuring Richard Ashcroft
  14. Beached - Orbital

[edit] References

  1. ^ Vidal, John. October 29, 1999. DiCaprio film-makers face storm over paradise lost, The Guardian, retrieved via ThaiStudents.com on December 3, 2006.
  2. ^ The Nation, December 1, 2006. Filming 'damaged beach' (retrieved on December 3, 2006).
  3. ^ BBC, 9 March, 2000. Thai MPs call for Beach ban (retrieved on December 3, 2000).

[edit] External links

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