"The Beach" is a really fine film, examines human motives in the search for "paradise."

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 2000)

Some things will always remain a mystery, like why so many reviewers give "The Beach" a poor review and low ratings. My wife and I (grandparents) both think it is a very good film, and I rate it "8" of 10. Here's why...
A young American man, played by Leo DeCaprio, having grown up on a heavy diet of TV and video games, wants to get away and find some adventure for his dull life. He goes to Thailand, meets up with a crazy man, gets a map to "paradise", the most beautiful beach on an island, where boulders shield the beach from the ocean. He convinces a young French couple to go along, having to swim the last mile or so.
One half of the island is being used for drug cultivation, and those farmers have allowed a community of paradise-seekers to settle on the other end, as long as they don't interfere, and NO ONE ELSE enters the community. Leo and his two friends manage to evade the farmers, and are accepted into the community.
Soon after, when rain makes fishing difficult, Leo grabs a spear and goes out, only to be confronted by a shark. He ends up not only killing the shark and providing food for the community, he establishes himself as a rival for "dominant male". That is the high point of his "paradise" and it is all downhill from there.
There certainly is a parallel here to the Adam and Eve story and eventual expulsion from paradise. Also a reminder of "The Lord of the Flies." Even though these 20 or 30 men and women all went to the island for "pleasure seeking", ultimately roles need to be taken, duties accepted, not everyone agrees, jealousy starts to erode relationships, certain people seek power, and when some get seriously injured, "out of sight, out of mind" is the remedy so as not to upset "paradise." In other words, they end up creating on a smaller scale the same world that they sought to escape from. Eventually this "house of cards" starts to fall down, and ultimately everyone realizes paradise is internal, not some idyllic place.
CAUTION - SPOILERS -- "Sal", the female leader, takes Leo to town for supplies, seduces him, gains power over him. Leo gets "exiled" to fend off the unwelcome visitors who received his map, goes half-crazy, the island and the farmers become one big game to him. Until the 4 visitors get shot and killed, and this wakes him up to the reality - this is no video game. He tries to get off the island, the farmers capture them and read them the riot act, order them off the island, Sal objects, is given a gun and one bullet, shoot Leo to stay on the island. She pulls the trigger, no bullet, farmer tricked her, but all trust was now destroyed, everyone else gets on raft and leaves, only Sal remains, probably does not live much longer. Last scene, Leo in terminal with computers, checks email, gets photo of group on island, taken by French girl, "Parallel Universe, Love Francoise." He smiles, but will be forever changed and haunted by his experience on the island.