Movie protest falls mostly on deaf ears

PHUKET TOWN: About 20 environmental protesters gathered to demonstrate against Phuket’s premier screening of ‘The Beach’ yesterday, claiming Maya Bay on Phi Phi Island was destroyed during the show’s filming. The protest lacked support, but drew curious onlookers and moviegoers as they entered the cinema despite pleas by the Phuket Environment Protection Group (PEPG) to boycott the film. Although Twentieth-Century Fox claims to have left Maya Bay in better condition than they found it before the filming, PEPG disagrees. The protesters gathered outside the Reangjit theatre at 5:30 pm, handing out fliers and displaying photographs of the “destroyed” bay. An announcer appealed to people not to support the film by spending money to see it. The protestors later moved on to Robinsons Department Store to hand out leaflets, and then continued their demonstration outside the Pearl Cinema at 7:30 pm for the first showing of the movie there. Dang Susin, who saw the show last night, said, “I wanted to see what all the controversy was about and why people are protesting this movie. I disagree with the protests; besides, the film has been shown all around the world already.” The 300 fliers distributed by the PEPG list the environmental reasons why people should not see the film. They also say that the movie, with its portrayal of excessive drug use, gives a bad impression of Thailand. The protest was peaceful, with no exchange of words between the deomonstrators and theater managers.