Controversy washed over The Beach long before it hit cinemas. Directed by Danny Boyle and starring Leonardo DiCaprio – who was still riding the box-office heartthrob wave of Titanic – the tale of a backpacking trip gone awry was the first major film of the new millennium, arriving on 11 February 2000. But as early as January 1999, when the film was still shooting on the Thai island of Ko Phi Phi Le, news had reached farther shores that environmental protestors were rallying against the $50m (£40m) production. The filmmakers were accused of spoiling its paradisiac beach. This was an irony as clear as the deep blue sea – and one that went far beyond the environmental impact.
Boyle himself would later admit that The Beach could have been better, calling it his “least enjoyable personal experience on a film”. But it’s arguable that it’s never received a fair shake. Twenty-five years on, it remains an imperfectly fine, of-its-moment thriller that – much like DiCaprio’s character – loses the plot a bit at the end.
