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The Beach
Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio, Virginie Ledoyen
Running Time: 2:00t
Country: USA
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Fun, exotic, and cynical, Danny Boyle's The Beach (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave) has no other ambition than to amuse, something in which he plainly succeeds.
Leonardo Di Caprio plays a young American travelor in search of pleasure and adventure who with the company of a French couple, goes off to find the idyllic beach, a hidden paradise in the middle of the islands of Thailand.
The script is based on these few lines and the film concentrates primarily on the discovery of this lost paradise and the intrusion of foreigners, in this case an American and two French people (two civilizations that are especially invasive) in the heart of a society closed off from itself. This theme may sound familiar, yet Boyle can't be reproached for the absence of a complex scenario. The film is staged around its main character and in this way reflects his lifestyle. No lifestyle is in effect less calculated and calculating than that of a globetrotter. These untethered people whose goal is to travel and lead a life where improvisation, though effective, is the rule. It's in this state of spirit that the film unfolds, the main character always runs off into the happy-go-lucky morning of sweet madness, making The Beach a hedonist film in the image of its hero.
The second aspect of the film is without a doubt its omnipresent irony, cynicism even, against its characters. Leonardo Di Caprio perfectly portrays an insouciant and egotistical American "invader", an anti hero in fact, who constantly conveys a certain derision that carries the humor of the film. As Virginie Ledoyen's character puts it: "You say the sort of pretentious bullshit Americans say to French girls in order to sleep with them." Throughout the film, Boyle breaks his hero down until the ultimate ridicule of his own fantasy turns into madness. The irony also concerns the hippies and their idyllic society. These travelers dream of finally establishing themselves but find themselves in a selfish closed society that, like the rest of the world, is ruled by the rhythm of work and pleasure. Boyle adds even more irony to the fact that the beach is not as fantastic as one would have expected, but on the contrary emits a certain claustrophobia as its closed off by cliffs and not open to the rest of the world. Boyle takes advantage of annihilating the last hopes for a lost paradise, since by the looks of this island, there are no more places that have not been trampled by man's foot at the dawn of the 21st century. The leader of the group is an intransigent woman (played with force by Tilda Swinton), quasi tyrranical, who abuses her power while the little group has no problem cohabitating with their drug trafficking neighbors, sacrificing one of their own, and risking their autocracy for some gadgets of the civilized world. Thus, one is very far from an expected perfect paradise, on the contrary to a world drowned in its own illusion of paradise, a world perfect for those marginal people ill-suited anywhere else. To reinforce this sensation of another world, there is a rite of passage that consists of jumping down a waterfall in order to access the camp.
The third aspect of the film is its direct hommage to Apocalypse Now, a film that also obsesses its main character. From the projection of the film in the hostel at the beginning to the crazy character who founds the colony (Daffy, played by Robert Carlyle in an enjoyable cameo) reminiscent of Kurz (Marlon Brando). Also, from Di Caprio, who captivated by his mentor Daffy, is contaminated by his lunacy, just like Martin Sheen in Coppola's film, to the noise of helicopters and jungle scenery, shades of the Apocalypse appear. Certain shots are copied, like Di Caprio's head coming out of the trap looks exactly like Sheen's coming out of the water.
The acting is pretty good, since Di Caprio, contrary to to his pathetic performance in Titanic, is perfect and amusing as a loser, while Virginie Ledoyen brings the French touch meant to make American makes horny. Tilda Swinton (Orlando) brings the iciness and iron grip necessary for such a role. The soundtrack has an important place, as it did in Trainspotting, composed of techno pieces supporting the film but also bringing its own rhythm, a signature of Boyle's style.
Obviously the film uncannily ressembles The Lord of the Flies and tends towards a simplicity that is almost infantine. Another unbearable ressemblance is the common points with Six Days Seven Nights: its scenery, the jumping down a cliff and/or waterfall, and the recurring theme of "evil drug traffickers" destroying paradise. Add to this certain symboles that are too obvious, like the shark scene: the first danger in this fictitious happiness. A production somewhat awkward and unequal at times that oscillates between exotic cliches and the originality and humor of an English director; a marriage that is not always successful.
The Beach is a beach of welcome relaxation; harmless, a conventional film far from the explosive Trainspotting, that won't disappoint if it's taken for what it is and not for a philosophical treastise.
Fred Thom
 The Beach Soundtrack
28 Days Later
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The Beach review
