Movie Mondays

The Beach

Book, 1996 by Alex Garland

Synopsis:

In our ever-shrinking world, where popular Western culture seems to have infected every nation on the planet, it is hard to find even a small niche of unspoiled land--forget searching for pristine islands or continents. This is the situation in Alex Garland's debut novel, The Beach. Human progress has reduced Eden to a secret little beach near Thailand. In the tradition of grand adventure novels, Richard, a rootless traveler rambling around Thailand on his way somewhere else, is given a hand-drawn map by a madman who calls himself Daffy Duck. He and two French travelers set out on a journey to find this paradise.
What makes this a truly satisfying novel is the number of levels on which it operates. On the surface it's a fast-paced adventure novel; at another level it explores why we search for these utopias, be they mysterious lost continents or small island communes. Garland weaves a gripping and thought-provoking narrative that suggests we are, in fact, such products of our Western culture that we cannot help but pollute and ultimately destroy the very sanctuary we seek.

Movie, 2000 directed by Danny Boyle

Features: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle, Virginie Ledoyen & Guillaume Canet

Tagline: Paradise has its price.

Quote:

My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family, or where I'm from? None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and cut yourself loose, looking for something more beautiful, something more exciting and yes, I admit, something more dangerous. So after eighteen hours in the back of an airplane, three dumb movies, two plastic meals, six beers and absolutely no sleep, I finally touch down; in Bangkok.

Did you know? 20th Century Fox altered the natural setting of Ko Phi Phi Leh Beach to make it more "paradise-like." They were later sued by environmentalists when they were unable to return it to its natural state. The 2004 tsunami supposedly improved its look and almost returned it to its original form.



Have you read the book or seen the movie?

The Beach is one of Brad's favorite movies. He has the soundtrack too. I liked it, but not as much. I didn't realize it was based on a book until now...think I'll pass on reading it, though.