ever since ( at least ) the eighteenth century and with it cult of the noble savage and tropical island have frequently be see in western culture a the near that it be possible to come to paradise on earth . this view be often reflect in the cinema and in film such a the blue lagoon or the various version of mutiny on the bounty and in which the idyll of tahiti be contrast with the rigour of life on board a british warship . the two version of lord of the fly and like the william golding novel on which they be base and offer an ironic twist on this theme while a tropical island be use a the setting for an anti utopian story in which an attempt to find a new society end in a relapse into barbarism . the beach have certain similarity to lord of the fly . the main character be richard and an american backpacker travel round thailand and who have hear tale of a co operative multi national community of idealistic young people live on a beach on an island off the coast . richard have dismiss these tale a mere urban legend and but change his mind when another backpacker and daffy and give him a map show where the mysterious beach can be find . undeterred by the fact that daffy commits suicide shortly afterwards and richard set out to go there accompany by etienne and francoise and a young french couple whom he have befriend . after a number of adventure and the three succeed in reach the island and discover that the fabled community be no urban myth but a reality . at first they be welcome into the group and spend their day lead a seemingly idyllic lifestyle and consisting of a small amount of time spend in fishing and large amount of time spend in play volleyball or beach cricket and laze about smoke pot and or ( for some obscure reason ) translate various english phrase into serbo croat . a with all film of this type and however and we quickly realise that this life be less perfect than it seem . sexual tension arise when richard find himself increasingly attract to francoise and she desert her boyfriend etienne for him . more seriously and there be flaw in the basic concept of the community . the main flaw be that travel narrow the mind wonderfully . the community and mostly westerner and have drop out of their own society and travel halfway around the world to thailand and but find thai society no more congenial than those they have leave behind . their solution be to drop out of that too and to set up a beach resort for people who do not like beach resort where they can live their own hedonistic idea of the hippie life . the community be not and however self sufficient while they produce little for themselves and apart from fish and and have to import many of their supply from the mainland and which they pay for by grow and sell cannabis . the island and in fact and be own by a group of thai farmer and themselves involve in a much large cannabis produce operation and who be happy to tolerate the newcomer provide they keep their community a secret and do not try to attract new recruit . a in many anti utopian parable and the community be dominate by a sinister dictator figure . lord of the fly have the choirboy jack and animal farm have napoleon and the beach have sal and an upper class englishwoman who be accept a the leader of the community ( although it be never clear how she attain this position ) . sal be obsess with protect the community privacy and secrecy and and in order to achieve this end she be prepared to resort to violence and even murderous violence . ( she be deeply suspicious of richard and who she suspect may have distribute further copy of daffy map ) . one of the film most chilling incident come after christo and one of the group and be seriously injure after be attack by a shark . he can only be save if he be take back to the mainland for immediate medical treatment and but because this might result in the community existence be reveal to outsider and sal refuse to permit this and christo be leave to die . there be some good acting in the film and especially from tilda swinton who give a nicely judged performance a sal and a woman with steely eye and a cut glass accent who for most of the movie can seem threaten without ever issue any direct threat or even raise her voice . this increase the impact of the scene at the end where sal finally do lose her cool . the beautiful virginie ledoyen make a charming and unaffected francoise and and i also like guillaume canet a etienne . originally see a a loser and the man who lose his girlfriend to richard and etienne later emerge a the community voice of conscience and the one man who refuse to abandon the die christo . it be and however and unfortunate that the director danny boyle and who want ewan mcgregor to play richard and be overrule by the studio and a leonardo di caprio and although he be well here than he be in titanic and tend to overact . the film tend to deteriorate in the second half and with the plot become difficult to follow a richard and alienate from his fellow member of the group and start to become mentally unstable . the style of direction be excessively hectic for my taste and and the sequence where richard imagine he be a character in a video game be particularly eccentric . despite it potentially interesting theme and the beach fall just short of be a very good film . positive .