'Beach' Film Blights Real Islands

By Azad February 9, 2000 6:37 PM

MAYA BAY, Thailand (AP) ? "The Beach," which opens in London on Wednesday starring Leonardo DiCaprio, tells the story of an amoral backpacker whose quest for the perfect tropical beach leads him to a secret commune on a remote Thai island.?But utopia isn't quite what it seems and paradise turns into bloody savagery.?Likewise, the image of sunny, sandy perfection achieved in making the 20th Century Fox film has destroyed the once-pristine beach where it was shot, environmentalists say.?Maya Bay, a strip of sand and vegetation backed by dramatic cliffs, is located on Phi Phi Le island, part of a national park about 350 miles south of Bangkok.?Many of its islands have been blighted by developers who bribed corrupt officials to look the other way while bungalows and hotels sprang up in theoretically protected areas.?Phi Phi Le and the beach at Maya Bay were largely spared, providing a setting worthy of Alex Garland's best-selling novel.?Read more.