The Beach – Book Versus Movie

I first read The Beach by Alex Garland when published almost 12 years ago. I read it during a long flight, and considering I always feel sleepy while traveling; I don’t think I did much justice to it. I ended up feeling somewhat underwhelmed.

The Beach is a story of Richard, a young American backpacker who wants to be a traveler (not a tourist). When he visits Thailand, he wants a unique experience. He wants to stray off the tourist beaten track. He meets a stranger who befriends him and talks to him about a lonely secret beach on an isolated island and gives him a map to the place. Richard decides to explore the beach, and he convinces a young French couple to go with him. Next is a strange combination of Lord of the Flies and Stranger in a Strange Land.

Since I didn’t care too much for the book and had poor reviews, I wasn’t expecting any great stuff when I caught the movie last week. But, I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

The movie is a beautiful one. Leo di Caprio plays the American tourist Richard, Guillaume Canet and Virginie Ledoyen as the French couple look gorgeously sun-kissed. The backdrop of Thailand – both the sleazy bits and the beautiful beaches rock. Having been to Thailand a couple of years back, it was great to revisit it through this movie.

The story in the movie diverges significantly from the book, and I often found myself surprised by what was happening. For example, the romance between Richard and Francoise (which is not in the book) was alright and believable. But I found that some of the meat from the book was left out to include the romance, making the movie a relatively shallow adaptation. The latter part of the movie is rushed and rather senseless and leads to a very tame finale.

Despite it all, this movie is pretty enjoyable. It may not suit everyone, but the book is also a little blah. I read this about 12 years ago when I was quite the innocent, and so found a lot of the drug and hippie philosophy somewhat off-putting.

But now, if given a chance, I would love to spend months on the beach taking a break from all the daily stresses of my life, and probably that’s why the movie now appeals to me so much 😊 . If I re-read the book now, I think I might like it a lot better.