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Review by Susan Granger
1½ stars out of 4
Jonathan Kaplan's cautionary tale explores the same territory
as "Midnight Express" (1978) and "Return to Paradise" (1998), as
Americans suspected of drug smuggling wind up in a Third World
prison. Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale stars as Ohio teens who tell
their parents they're off to Hawaii when they trek to Bangkok for an
11-day getaway to celebrate their high school graduation. After seeing
the usual sights, they sneak into a posh hotel where they pretend to
be guests enjoying the swimming pool. But when they invent a room
number to sign a bar check, their ruse is discovered. A charming young
Australian (Daniel LaPaine) comes to their rescue, paying court to
them both. When he invites them to join him in Hong Kong for the
weekend, they accept the plane tickets. But when they get to the
airport, they're arrested by armed police who find heroin in their
luggage. Thai justice moves quickly, so they're convicted and sent to
a dark, dank, filthy prison to serve 33-year sentences. No one really
cares if the Australian may have planted the drugs in their luggage -
they're still guilty of carrying them. And the Thai penal system is
riddled with corruption. The girls' only hope is a mercenary
expatriate American lawyer, "Yankee Hank" (Bill Pullman). Writers
David Arata and Adam Fields and director Jonathan Kaplan weave a
cynical tale and elicit strong performances, particularly from Claire
Danes. But it's curiously similar to a story printed in "Marie Claire"
last year about two young women serving sentences on drug-smuggling
charges in a Peruvian prison, even to the detail of having cockroaches
crawl into the girls' ears. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10,
"Brokedown Palace" is a depressing, disturbing 4. It's a grim reminder
about the danger of gullibility.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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out of 4
