3D: Beauty & The Beach

3D VISION: Beauty and 'The Beach'

''DID you see the picture in today's newspaper of the French actress who will play in 'The Beach','' a senior national parks division official asked wistfully earlier this week. ''She's beautiful, huh? And Leo, the phra ek [hero], is very handsome, too.''

Yes, Thailand's forestry officers have stars in their eyes, and it seems to be clouding their judgement. For they have approved the filming of the movie 'The Beach' on Koh Phi Phi Leh, part of a marine national park in Krabi, even while admitting it will probably damage the remote island's fragile beauty.

Royal Forestry Department chief Plodprasop Suraswadi acknowledged that he signed off on the project largely for economic reasons. ''Thailand is broke, and we need the money the film will bring in,'' he said. ''I've received many letters supporting the project, because the film will provide free publicity for Thailand abroad. Just like with James Bond Island [in Phang Nga Bay], foreign tourists will want to see where 'The Beach' was made.''

Actually, plenty of tourists already make the trip to nearby Phi Phi Don -- so many that the island is groaning under the impact. But let's face it, even if we were still in the midst of an economic boom, a lucrative project like 'The Beach' would have been given the green light, particularly since it has the added cache of starring popular actor Leonardo DiCaprio. In Thailand, it takes a lot more than a plea for conservation to halt production of a major Hollywood movie.

Producer Andrew McDonald, speaking on behalf of 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the picture, has agreed to establish a Bt5 million environmental bond to pay for any damage that might occur, but final approval from the agriculture minister is still pending while the value of an additional ''donation'' of perhaps Bt3-4 million is negotiated. Time will tell whether this money actually goes toward conservation or simply disappears into the maw of the RFD.

Meanwhile, Plodprasop has ordered that all equipment should be ferried to the island on special flat-bottomed boats to avoid damaging the surrounding coral. No buildings, even temporary ones, will be built there, he claims, and RFD officials will watch over the filming continuously. But can anyone really envision some junior official telling Leo or some big-shot Hollywood director that they have to hold up the shooting of their multi-million dollar film until the tide comes in?

Plodprasop insists it would happen. Besides, he adds, a rich and famous actor like Leo wouldn't allow anything really bad to happen to the environment; it would be bad for his image. Well, nothing against Leo (he was excellent as Arnie in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape') but things just don't work that way. Remember the time that Jack Nicklaus came to Thailand to inspect a golf course he designed, and was provided with a free ride on a military helicopter? It later turned out the course in question had encroached on Khao Yai, Thailand's flagship national park, blasting into the mountainside in the process. Nicklaus later claimed he knew nothing about the incident, and the sad thing is he's probably telling the truth.

Thailand has also suffered environmental damage from the filming of previous Hollywood blockbusters. We've heard how the 'Mortal Kombat' crew trampled on the ruins at Ayutthaya, but there were other troubling cases, too. In 1992, for instance, a big-time director came to Phuket to film one of his Vietnam War-era epics. In order to make the rice paddy scenes look more authentic, he had dozens of herons and egrets rounded up from other parts of the country and trucked onto the location; unfortunately, many of the birds died en route. More recently, moviemakers reportedly trashed a pristine cave in Krabi while shooting an action film.

''I can well believe there will be some damage done to Phi Phi Leh, if only by accident,'' admits Plodprasop. ''But it is only one small island, and the film will benefit the country as a whole by promoting it as a tourist destination.''

In fact, McDonald has already proclaimed his intention to alter the face of Phi Phi Leh. The beach at Maya Bay is an ideal location, he says -- except that the local plants need to be removed and replaced with about 100 coconut trees for the duration of the shoot. That, of course, runs counter to the National Park Act, which states that protected areas should be left undisturbed for future generations to enjoy -- a principle well worth defending.

However, not only has the RFD agreed to the proposal, but last Monday Plodprasop suggested the newly planted palms would stay once the movie has been completed, as tourists would want to come and view the bay ''just the way it was filmed''. Coconut palms are actually indigenous to the island, he argued, but have been cut down over the years by birds' nest concessionaires.

Maybe so, but bringing in a hundred coconut trees sounds more like a plantation, and you certainly don't see that in Nature, only in Hollywood-inspired fantasies about tropical islands. You can't help but wonder: is this a case of Hollywood celebrating Thailand, or Thailand celebrating Hollywood?

You also have to wonder whether the tourist authorities and businessmen who are so giddy at this potential brush with fame have read the novel upon which the movie is based. Although set in Thailand, it has very little to do with Thailand. It is actually the story of a bunch of farang backpackers who flee the confines of civilisation by escaping to a hidden island paradise. About the only meaningful encounter with a Thai person comes with a brutal drug-runner. Not that this should be held against the book -- a kind of 1990s version of 'Lord of the Flies' -- and deserves to be made into a movie. It's just rather ironic to suggest the film will promote Thailand.

Finally, given all the fuss, you might wonder why the movie has to be shot on Phi Phi Leh (or should we start calling it Leo Island?). But deep down we know why -- it is precisely because the island is so beautiful and pristine and remote that it is being showered with attention. We cannot allow such splendid isolation to exist unadulterated, it must be tarted up and adorned with lovely young bodies to provide us with our escapist fantasies.

Hopefully, someday we will realise that Thailand doesn't need plastic surgery to attract more paying customers, and we don't need Hollywood to tell us that the face of Thailand is already beautiful.

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