While sitting around the house today I popped in this video courtesy of the local Blockbuster.
The film is "Return to Paradise' starring Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn. The film is about three friends vacationing in Malaysia where the are involved in generally messing around including the indulging in liberal amounts of hashish consumption. On the last day of the vacation one of the three men decides to stay on for a while longer.
Two years pass and the three men have limited if any contact between them. Eventually the most hardened of the three men, portrayed by Vaughn, is working as a limo driver and has his car hired by a female lawyer (Heche) who explains to him the fate of the member of their group who stayed behind.
On the day the other two left Malaysia the police come to the place where they were staying to inquire about a missing bicycle the three men had rented. Naturally, what they found instead was the stash of narcotics. The law in Malysia says that anyone found with more than a specified amount of drugs in their possession, will be charged with intent to deal. The penalty for dealing is death and now the friend who initially stayed behind is scheduled to be hanged in eight days unless the other two return to Malaysia and own up to their responsibility.
What ensues is a very moving and sometimes gut-wrenching examination of what it means to deal with the unforeseen consequences of human misbehavior with courage. The point seems clear: Even when we think we are only doing something only a wee bit wrong, the outcome can be dreadful beyond what we imagine.
In a culture that consistently winks at wrong doing the story of "Return to Paradise" seems ominous. If, consequences for wrongdoing are so unpredictable on an individual level, what lies ahead for us on a cultural and national level?
I believe the film's story does offer an answer. The only answer to these questions that has ever borne up under scrutiny. That is to simply face the consequences of misdeeds with courage and hope for mercy.
I am certain that there are many in a our ruthlessly pragmatic time who would demand to know what good it would do to return to Malaysia to try to save a friend's life, or for that matter, to make any sacrifice for moral principle. In the end, the answer to that objection is not quantifiable, does not run in the easily demarcated lines of whether or not the desired outcome is achieved. The answer is simply that some actions make us into better people and some actions make us worse, that right action forms in us a kind of character that makes life meaningful in spite of circumstance.
"Return to Paradise" does not gloss over any of these issues. In a time of high budget teenage horror flicks and Titanic sized romantic sentimentality, it is easy to understand how a film like "Return to Paradise" could easily get lost. Its honest examination of the human heart and its depiction of moral triumph make it a welcome contribution to the world of contemporary film.
The film is "Return to Paradise' starring Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn. The film is about three friends vacationing in Malaysia where the are involved in generally messing around including the indulging in liberal amounts of hashish consumption. On the last day of the vacation one of the three men decides to stay on for a while longer.
Two years pass and the three men have limited if any contact between them. Eventually the most hardened of the three men, portrayed by Vaughn, is working as a limo driver and has his car hired by a female lawyer (Heche) who explains to him the fate of the member of their group who stayed behind.
On the day the other two left Malaysia the police come to the place where they were staying to inquire about a missing bicycle the three men had rented. Naturally, what they found instead was the stash of narcotics. The law in Malysia says that anyone found with more than a specified amount of drugs in their possession, will be charged with intent to deal. The penalty for dealing is death and now the friend who initially stayed behind is scheduled to be hanged in eight days unless the other two return to Malaysia and own up to their responsibility.
What ensues is a very moving and sometimes gut-wrenching examination of what it means to deal with the unforeseen consequences of human misbehavior with courage. The point seems clear: Even when we think we are only doing something only a wee bit wrong, the outcome can be dreadful beyond what we imagine.
In a culture that consistently winks at wrong doing the story of "Return to Paradise" seems ominous. If, consequences for wrongdoing are so unpredictable on an individual level, what lies ahead for us on a cultural and national level?
I believe the film's story does offer an answer. The only answer to these questions that has ever borne up under scrutiny. That is to simply face the consequences of misdeeds with courage and hope for mercy.
I am certain that there are many in a our ruthlessly pragmatic time who would demand to know what good it would do to return to Malaysia to try to save a friend's life, or for that matter, to make any sacrifice for moral principle. In the end, the answer to that objection is not quantifiable, does not run in the easily demarcated lines of whether or not the desired outcome is achieved. The answer is simply that some actions make us into better people and some actions make us worse, that right action forms in us a kind of character that makes life meaningful in spite of circumstance.
"Return to Paradise" does not gloss over any of these issues. In a time of high budget teenage horror flicks and Titanic sized romantic sentimentality, it is easy to understand how a film like "Return to Paradise" could easily get lost. Its honest examination of the human heart and its depiction of moral triumph make it a welcome contribution to the world of contemporary film.
