An underrated film

Rating: 8/10 (31 January 2012)

I watched it again recently and was struck by how the narrative and the various plot devices fit into the whole "heart of darkness" journey that is also seen in the works of Joseph Conrad and 'Apocalypse Now'. You basically have a character who is slightly obsessed with an idea and a vision, follows it to an extreme length and finally arrives at a place that is paradoxical and more than anyone is prepared to handle, both in the social and geographical sense, but also in the sense that Di Caprio's character goes to some dark places in his own mind. The film is layered - it could be seen as a parable of paradise gained/paradise lost, it could also be seen as one man's existential journey, but it could also conceivably be taken as a somewhat critical study of Utopian societies. The superficially happy and leisure-oriented hippies in the beatific 'commune' on an isolated island actually turn out to have some nasty characteristics: jealousy, ruthlessness, elitism and the usual fights for rank and control of the dialogue. The dope-growing Thai 'farmers' on the other side of the island are not as nasty as their image suggests but are ready to unleash lethal violence when they feel squeezed and exposed. I started to side more and more with these irritated, AK-47 wielding characters because their message of "no more visitors on our secret island" struck a chord. Man tends to overrun, overpopulate and exploit what had previously been beautiful places. Man also has the tendency to make some shady compromises and rationalize some heartless, cold behaviour (means justify the Utopian end). Anyhow, it's a deep film on that level. And if you don't want to watch something deep, the scenery, both natural and human, is eye-catching, and the filmmaking itself simply takes you on a weird trip through a colour-saturated paradise, with the occasional slice of hell dropped in it.