Hedonistic, Hippy Dross

Rating: Null/10 (7 December 2004)

The Beach is a film about the last sanctuary known to man, untouched by Capitalism, pollution, politics, domestic banality, constraint etc. Or at least it is until Leo DiCaprio (Richard) arrives.
Basically the story is that Daffy founded this pure paradise based on the age old quest for living life to the max and having fun. Somewhere down the line, like every Utopian fantasy, the dream became a nightmare. Richard appears to be the one who sees the beauty of The Beach, but gets warped by the usual human emotions of lust, greed, jealousy, hate, pride - the seven deadly sins really. He lusts after Francoise, is greedy when he also sleeps with Sal, becomes absorbed in self importance when he defeats the shark, and claims to be the master of the island. Ultimately, however, it is the old cliché that nature is beautiful and pure, and it is man and human emotion that corrupts that is sickening in this film. Its like "The Beach" is one great metaphor for The Garden of Eaden, where Richard is tempted (and falls) for not one, but two spoken for women. He lies his way through the film in order to keep what he sees as his hedonistic right, before seeing the community for the hypocrites they are and wanting to have nothing to do with it. On top of that, the choice of DiCaprio was obviously to appeal to the female audience, and its a very bad miscast for the role he is playing. His shouting makes him sound like a pathetic petulant child, and his swearing just does not suit him. it is clever that people from all corners of the globe reside at the Beach, but it is just another layer of "what are they getting at by this" on top of other complexities.
The problem remains that there are two many metaphors, twists, unanswered questions, and confusing moments to make this film matter. I think Trainspotting by Danny Boyle is one of the best films ever made, but this is just a mish mash of hedonistic, hippy dross.
I would not recommend this, unless you are a philosopher who like spending hours upon end deciphering films.
Marc.