The Beach

The Beach is an action drama romance written by John Hodge, based upon Alex Garland’s existential novel. Directed by Danny Boyle, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Patcharawan Patarakijjanon and Daniel York. The story begins in a low down, dirty and sleazy Bangkok, Thailand hotel. Richard (played by DiCaprio) has just arrived from the U.S. He meets French neighbors Etienne (played by Guillaume Canet) and Françoise (played by Virginie Ledoyen). A Scotsman named Daffy (played by Robert Carlyle) is crazy. Before committing suicide, he gives Richard the seeming gift of a map to what appears to be paradise. The place is comprised of a beautiful, white sandy beach that surrounds an island lagoon. Only no one every visits this beach. Richard, Etienne and Françoise decide to find this wonderful place. After several unfortunate incidents, they manage to find the tiny community with its multi racial establishment. Sal (played by Tilda Swinton) leads a nature group who have left civilization to live in harmony, peace and seclusion. Richard and friends are immediately accepted. However, they begin to gradually learn that this so called paradise isn't all it looks to be. Richard manages to find romance, albeit rather awkwardly. Meanwhile, his French friends are struggling with their own fizzled out romance. Richard finally goes nuts - turning into a wild man, running off into the nearby woods. He is trying to track down four tourists who came to the island by mistake, when he'd copied Daffy's map. He has nightmares of Daffy. The movie begins to have a biblical theme where Richard drinks snake blood - reminiscent of the book of Genesis. All in all, the characters discover that there is no such thing as paradise and that basic human nature manages to poison seemingly perfect environments. The other message involves beauty and how it holds grave danger. The movie’s pro-ecological stance is also used to underpin how these pristine locales can be so easily spoiled.