Return to Paradise (1998)****+

Seen on 25-8-2009 - HBO movie
Cast:
Dir.: Joseph Ruben
"Joseph Ruben's ``Return to Paradise'' is a thriller that traps its characters in an exquisite dilemma involving life and death. Lewis, Sheriff and Tony are three Americans who meet in Malaysia and fool around in cheap huts on the beach, ``God's own bathtub,'' enjoying the rum, the girls and the hashish. Sheriff and Tony return to New York. Lewis plans to go on to Borneo for a Greenpeace project to protect the orangutan. Instead, he's arrested for possession of the leftover hash and sentenced to death....." (Ebert).
The moral dilemma set in motion in Lewis' friends to own up their share of responsibility in his guilt is one part of drama, while the other is the shocking reversal of judgment in Malayasis, making Sheriff's sacrifice pointless when Lewis is sent to gallows as a reaction against the critical report in American media about the unjustness of Malayasian legal system.
We were deeply shaken and disturbed by this movie.
"Three friends share an exciting vacation in Malaysia, full of fun, drinks, women and hash. When the vacation is over, each have dreams of continuing their lives, and they all go their separate ways. One of them (Phoenix) remains on the tropical paradise to fulfill a dream of working with apes for research. Two years later, a lawyer (Heche) comes to New York and hunts down the other two friends to give some sad news. A few days after they left the island, police raided their camp and found amazingly large quantities of hash left about. Phoenix was still residing there, so he had to take the blame. He is set to be put to death in 8 days, and the only way the charges can be decreased is if the two friends come back to paradise and take their share of the responsibilty. If they do, they both will spend three years in prison. If only one does, he will spend six years behind bars..." Written by R.P. Falvey