Return to Paradise

How much is a human life worth? Most of the time when the idea of self-sacrifice or just sacrifices in general are concerned, the question posed usually involves a family member, friend or just any loved one. The dilemma posed by the film Return to Paradise is very different. Even though Sherriff and Tony became friends with Louis, they were far from being close to him. All they really know about him was just the two or so weeks that they spent with him in Malaysia. The problem posed to Sheriff and Tony was that unless one or both of them return to Malaysia and serve jail time, Louis would be executed. If one of them returns, he serves six years in jail, if both of them return; they each serve three years. So, it is their best bet for both of them to return. It seems simple on the surface, but the real problem lies in the fact that that Malaysian jails are of terrible quality and that they both be putting their lives on hold and on the line to save a person they barley know. At what point does humanity impede everything else? Would you be willing to give up part of your life for a total stranger? That is the real question that this movie poses.

Of the two that are to return, Sheriff seems to be the one with the least to lose. He works a terrible job as a limo driver, has no future prospects, no girlfriend and lives in a squalid apartment. The ironic thing is that for most of the film, he cannot bring himself to go. The real moral dilemma faced by Sheriff is how he is full responsible for Louis being arrested in the first place. Trashing the bike that Louis was fine walking back to the city and the brick of hashish that was found in the trash were all actions by Sheriff that caused Louis to be arrested. All of this really should mean that Sheriff should have been volunteering as soon as he could to go to prevent Louis from being executed but this was not the case. The real form of bravery that was shown by him was after Tony and he find out that Beth is Louis’ sister and decide to leave, Sheriff comes back and tries to save Louis’ life again after all seemed lost. In the end, Louis still ended up dying thanks to the actions of MJ, but the mere fact that he did it when he was about five steps away from the plane out of there says an incredible amount about his character.

Tony, on the other hand, had so much more to live for. First off, he had a great job as an engineer and he had a fiancée which he planned to marry within the year. Even with all of this, Tony decided almost immediately after he talked to Sheriff that he was going. In the beginning, it seems like Sheriff, who has less to lose, should be the one gung-ho about going back and saving Louis while Tony should be the one that is unsure how much a sacrifice for someone he barley knows he can make. It is almost fitting when they both find out that Beth is Louis’ sister that Tony jumps on this opportunity to leave as they were lied to and were subject to someone’s bested interests. This action almost completely rescinds all of Tony’s previous good deeds as he seemed to care more about being lied to than saving a human life. All in all, Tony probably wasn’t going to go though with going to jail in the first place. It is interesting how both of them flip as soon as they get to Malaysia. In the United States, Tony is ready to go on his own and it takes so much in order for Sheriff to go. When they get to Malaysia, one of the first thing that Tony says to Sheriff as soon as they get to the hotel room is something along the lines of “are you sure you can go through with this?” to which Sheriff says something like “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.” When it really mattered and when it was beyond being lied to by Louis’ sister, Tony bailed out where Sheriff stayed and tried to help his friend. This says a tremendous amount about Tony’s character. He really should not have let Beth’s vested interests cause him to abandon Louis when he needed him the most.

Of the three friends, Louis was the one who protected his friends in an incredible way. Over the two years of his captivity, he didn’t mention either Sheriff or Tony until it was the last resort to save his own life. At any time he could have brought up Sheriff and Tony and reduced his sentence but he did it after everything else was lost. The dilemma that came up was can you bring yourself to ask people you barley know to serve jail time on your behalf. It is true that Louis tried everything he could not to get to this point, but his true character shows in a less then stellar way when he is visited by Sheriff. Louis is ecstatic to see him, but he starts to lose it when he reveals that he would not return if he was in Sheriff’s place. This seems like an almost spit in the face on Sheriff’s part, but the idea of hindsight comes into play. Sheriff and Tony have no idea what it is like in a Malaysian prison while Louis does. If the tables were turned, I feel that Louis would have come back on the simple notion that he would not know what the prisons were like. So, even though that scene seemed to count against Louis’ character, it was influenced by actually being in the prison so it would most likely be different if it was either Tony or Sheriff in Louis’ position.

Beth’s dilemma was one of twofold; first off, she has to ask two people she has never met before to sacrifice upwards of six years of their lives in order to save someone that Sheriff and Tony barley know. Second of all, she has to do all of this in a way that her vested interests do not overly influence her decisions. How can she ask these people to do so much for her brother and how can she keep being Louis being her brother a secret from Tony and Sheriff? When that secret is revealed, it sends Tony off but Sheriff still comes back. The only problem that comes up is when MJ causes everything to be for nothing.

In all honesty, I don’t feel like MJ should have had a dilemma at all. She was asked multiple times by Beth not to take any action and she was going to get her story after the trial was finished. She just decided that her own career was more important than taking Beth’s word about how the story would end up killing Louis. It is kind of pathetic that her dilemma was on whether or not she was going to be selfish in order to save her own career. As I am sure it was written in this way, when the judge received the newspaper, ever viewer knew exactly what was written and how it was probably was going to doom Louis’ life. It is also kind of unfair that MJ was solely responsible for Louis’ death and there can be nothing done in order to prosecute her.

Overall, of the five characters listed above only one of them made and unselfish decision on his dilemma while the other four of them made selfish decisions. Sheriff came back to save Louis’ life and serve six years in a Malaysian prison while Tony just abandoned Louis because of the action of his sister. Louis made a selfish decision but it was needed to save his own life as the same with the actions of Beth, his sister, in order to save his life as well. Even though they both acted in thoughtful ways leading up to the decision to ask Sheriff and Tony, they still did it just to save Louis. MJ simply made a gigantic selfish decision and it cost Louis his life. Of all the characters, MJ made me the maddest as she essentially killed Louis just for a single newspaper articled that did nothing of use at all.