Perfect for the unbearably hot recession-hit summer months

Rating: 6/10 (6 August 2009)

After seeing the movie for the first time , I must conclude that it is a very good product by D.Boyle , perhaps the most popular and financially successful British director to date ,whose film canon includes an impressive array of various genres , ranging from comedies ( Trainspotting ) to Sci - Fi with Sunshine ,and his last academy winner The Slumdog Millionaire .The Beach is a most welcome film for this Indian summer, as it deals with ,well, a last strip of paradise ,whose precise location is a sort of modern tourist legend, and the arrival of three youngsters ,led by Leo De Caprio , who discover a sort of modern hippie commune there, where love – read -sex and partner sharing – soft drugs –the island is virtually ideal for growing opiates !, briefly- carefree ' joie de vivre ' are the only rule ,and where the only contacts to the Thai mainland are restricted to the monthly procurement of necessities done only by the select few .The eternal bliss is , of course, doomed , as the inevitable ,namely the forces of nature ( diseases ,injuries –there are no doctors there ,and if the need be , you cannot - once on the mainland – return or disclose the location ! , and the most destructive one ,that is the most human one , jealousy ) dictate the lives there as well .This movie shows the true nature of modern tourist industry that cares not a fig about national , religious or cultural sensibilities( observe the depiction of now infamous Thai sex tourism ,making one wonder if there is really nothing else except girls and the indulgence of the most perverted sexual whims and proclivities !) , and draws its power from human gullibility , and , first and foremost, vacuous, meaningless and jaded human lives under the slogan of ' Enjoy '.