The Loud American (The Beach (DVD))

Member Name: Hunting_Bears

Product:	The Beach (DVD)
Date:	18/06/02 (106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great acting, cool camera work, beautiful cinematography

Disadvantages: stupid ending

"The Beach" is a great film trapped inside a Hollywood movie. The premise and idea's within the film are really cool, you've got travel, romance, comedy, a deliberately annoying American, gorgeous cinematography and witty dialogue. So what went wrong? The main problem with this movie (not a film) is the cultural differences between Americans who financed it and the British and French that actually made it. I am not suggesting "The Beach" is an art film but the style, humour and actual travel culture are too European for the Americans, who want action and romance and popcorn movies that you don't have to think about. Did you know that only 5% of Americans hold passports?


"The Beach" was financed by 2Oth Century Fox and they had the highly popular Leo di Caprio as the star of the film. The rest of the cast was filled with Euro-cinema kids and the excellent actress Tilda Swinton. The film was not a box office flop, more a huge disappointment.


The Novel


"The Beach" was novelist Alex Garland's first effort. The book became a cult hit. The story dealt with a Vietnam War obsessed British backpacker named Richard who heads out to Thailand and is given a map to a secret beach. Richard and two French backpackers named Etienne and Francoise head to the beach. Richard becomes obsessed with Etienne's girlfriend Francoise, they never do get it on, its more of an obsession on Richard's part. The book turns into an adult "Lord of the Flies" and lots of mad and bad things happen.


The Plot of the film

An American backpacker named Richard arrives in Thailand looking for thrills and excitement. One night he meets Daffy. Daffy gives Richard a map to a secret island. Richard hooks up with Etienne and Francoise. The three of them head off in search of the mythical beach. When they get there, Richard starts to act the big American a
nd steals Francoise from Etienne. Richard begins to spoil the island by making several critical errors and things fall apart from there.


The differences


There are tonnes of differences between the novel and the film. The violence of the novel is all but extinct, the obsession with Francoise is turned into a holiday romance, the ending is completely different and the biggest difference of all is Richard is an American. There was outrage from the book's fans when it was announced that Ewan McGregor (the favourite to play Richard) would not be playing the lead and Leo "Titanic" di Caprio was. The casting decision was actually great because the film is given a few extra qualities by casting a Hollywood actor. I might add that I think Leo is a great actor, who was side tracked by making risible Hollywood films. "Romeo and Juliet" was excellent but "Titanic" was pants on a massive scale (like the budget). He seems to be back on track with Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" and Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can".



European culture versus American culture


The big theme of the film is the culture clashes whether Asian or European with America's cultural imperialism. This was not in the book, John Hodge wrote fifteen drafts of the script and the film seems a cut and paste of those scripts. Richard is an American who wants to get away from his fellow travellers that take the well-worn paths of tourism. He seeks excitement and something unique. The opening of the film sees Richard surrounded by statues of Buddha and Coca-Cola signs. He knows that he needs to travel deeper into Thailand to find what he his looking for. Richard is seeking pure pleasure and finds it with the secret beach.


The film is very interesting because like Danny Boyle (the director explained in an interview in Empire magazine): "The f
ilm is essentially about an American coming into a community and fucking it up". I think this is a point the American audience missed. The film is also about colonialism and how the island, which is situated in Thailand doesn't belong to either, the European inhabitants and the American this is something that neither side consider. I find these points fascinating. Not many Hollywood films explore themes like these.


This is one of the many problems with the film, the tone of the film is very uncertain and conflicts with each element. The film shifts between romantic comedy, thriller and travelogue. The best part of the film is when Richard, Etienne and Francoise are travelling to the island. The chemistry and dialogue is very funny and explores the culture clashes in a comedic way. The best example of this is when Etienne and Francoise fake a shark attack in the stretch of water between the island and the main land. A frightened Richard goes ballistic at them and say's " You think that's funny uh? No wonder your humour has conquered the world". Whenever Richard gets frustrated he calls Etienne "French Boy" and through out the film Richard cannot relate to many of the European characters. Richard comes across has a stereotypical American, he's a show off, he is very naïve and he thinks he's great. But underneath this characterisation, Leo di Caprio makes Richard a bit of a weirdo. He fantasies a lot and seems something of a habitual lair. The other European characters are also stereotypes. This was used for characterisations because the other members of the community are given very little screen time, apart from introductions and also to make the main characters more interesting.



The Direction


Danny Boyle must have had some battles with the producers over this because the film is just a mess (in terms of narrative and direction). He seems to have wanted to
please the producers by having a cheesy underwater love scene and making Leo walk around in his shorts for most of the film. At times it seems so uncertain but still the film manages to interesting and really funny. There are some wonderful aerial shots of the island and the first half is very sure of its self before turning into a mess. That's the best possible term for this film, they seemed to have run out of ideas once they got on the island. The books ending is too disgusting and violent for the film and would have seriously unbalanced the film. Danny Boyle gets great performances from Guielleme Canet (Etienne), Viginie Ledoyen (Francoise), Leo di Caprio (Richard) and Tilda Swinton (Sal) but doesn't give them anything to do. Francoise' character is abandoned once they reach the island and her affair with Richard is over.


The Cinematography and Dialogue


One thing the film cannot be faulted on is the beautiful photography. Frenchman Darius Khondji makes everything look so attractive that it makes you want to be with the characters. The blue sea, the green palm trees and white sands are captured on film wonderfully.


There are some scenes in "The Beach" that are very good. The story maybe crap but the dialogue and individual scenes are first rate.

My favourite scene is when Richard is attempting to talk to Francoise, whilst Etienne is playing football. Richard stares at Etienne who is running on the beach like a world class footballer and Richard says: "I could do that if I wanted. But I don't want to". Francoise looks at Richard and says: "What are you talking about?" Richard replies "You know, just making conversation". This short scene captures the awkward moments when Richard is trying to talk to a woman he obviously fancies like mad. Through out the film there are odd little scenes that really shine but on a whole lack cohesion.


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Conclusion


"The Beach" is a really good film but is let down by the ending. I would recommend this film to fans of film that want to watch something a little different. The acting, dialogue and cinematography make this film a great but frustrating viewing. Danny Boyle should learn not to make films by committee and have some backbone when dealing with Hollywood executives. Many people think this film is rubbish, it is not. "The Beach" is a really cool and exciting film that just loses it's energy and sense towards the end.

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