Brokedown Palace

Infobox_Film
name = Brokedown Palace


caption = "Brokedown Palace" film poster
writer = Adam Fields,
David Arata
starring = Claire Danes,
Kate Beckinsale,
Bill Pullman
director = Jonathan Kaplan
producer = Adam Fields
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = 13 August 1999
runtime = 100 min
language = English, Thai
budget =
imdb_id = 0120620
music =
awards =

"Brokedown Palace" is an American film directed by Jonathan Kaplan, and starring Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale. It deals with two American friends imprisoned in Thailand for drug smuggling.

Plot

Lifelong best friends Alice Marano (Danes) and Darlene Davis (Beckinsale) are like night and day. Alice is bold and daring, while Darlene is more quiet and reserved. The future looks bright for both of them as they graduate high school and make plans to attend college in the fall.

Unbeknownst to their parents, they change their pre-college summer vacation destination from Hawaii to Thailand at Alice's insistence. Alice claims that the American dollar is much stronger overseas and they should take advantage of the opportunity. While there, they meet a captivating Australian man, Nick Parks (Daniel Lapaine), who befriends them and invites them along with him to Hong Kong. However, the girls are found to have large amounts of heroin at Bangkok International Airport while preparing to board their plane, and are quickly taken into custody for drug smuggling. Darlene is tricked into signing a confession in a foreign language she does not understand.

The story takes an abrupt turn as the girls find themselves sentenced to lengthy terms (33 years, plus 15 for an escape attempt) in a grim Thai women's prison, called the Brokedown Palace by its inmates. It is implied that there is no parole system in Thailand, and thus no chance of early release. During the first several months of their incarceration, the girls accuse each other of attempting to smuggle the heroin, possibly at the behest of Parks. While Alice and Darlene's friendship falls apart, the facts surrounding what really happened become increasingly muddled and distorted by corrupt Thai politicians, and the girls become less and less likely to be found innocent and released. They eventually turn to Hank "the Yank" Greene (Bill Pullman), an American attorney living in Thailand, in hopes that he can free them.

At first, Greene is hesitant to represent the girls because they lied to him about leaving a Thai luxury hotel without paying. The girls eventually come clean about their attempts to "live dangerously" in their first venture far from home, and Hank agrees to continue representing them, though his efforts are in vain as he is beaten back by the Thai legal system at every turn.

Greene, though no longer getting paid, eventually grows fond of the girls and takes a more personal interest in their case. Trying a different tactic, he meets with prosecutor Roy Knox (Lou Diamond Phillips), who has the influence to commute their sentence. Though Knox admits that the girls were probably duped, someone has to go to jail for their crime, and as long as no Nick Parks (obviously an alias) can be produced to clear the girls, they will finish out the remainder of their sentences.

Alice—by this time having accepted her responsibility for their predicament and unable to bear the sight of her best friend suffering in prison any longer—takes Greene's suggestion and proposes a deal with the King of Thailand to serve both girls' sentences in exchange for Darlene's release. The judge agrees to this deal, and the film ends with the girls' friendship restored. Darlene bids Alice farewell and returns to the States, promising that she will not stop trying to get Alice released from prison. Hank, though no longer directly involved with the case, continues studying precedents in hopes of finding one that will clear Alice's name once and for all. The last scene shows Alice in line for count with her two friends in the prison, with a smile on her face. She has finally redeemed herself.

Because it presents a critical view of the Thai legal system, "Brokedown Palace" was filmed mostly in the Philippines. However some panoramas and views were filmed in Bangkok.

It is said to be based on the case of Patricia Cahill and Karyn Smith, two teenagers caught smuggling.

imilarities to other films

The movie "Return to Paradise", released a year before "Brokedown Palace", also concerns a young American trapped in a Southeast Asian legal system, and the difficult choices that must be made by the victim's traveling companions.

The 1989 Australian miniseries "Bangkok Hilton" is about a young woman who goes in search of the father she has never known. She travels from Australia to England and then on to Bangkok. There she meets a charming young man, Arkie Regan, who plants drugs in her luggage and leaves her to her fate when the authorities find them during a routine search at the airport. Following her imprisonment in the notorious "Bangkok Hilton" prison, she awaits the decision of the authorities on whether she should face the death penalty.

There are also similarities in the film "", in which Bridget travels to Thailand while filming with Daniel Cleaver and is left carrying Sharon's male companion's pottery snake. Authorities are tipped off, uncover the smuggled drugs, and subsequently arrest Bridget, while Daniel and Sharon board their flight home to England. Bridget is jailed in a women's Thai jail similar to the one in Brokedown Palace, but is later released with the aid of barrister Mark Darcy.

The movie Brokedown Palace is also claimed to be loosely based on the exploits of Patricia Cahill and Karen Smith.

ee also

*1999 in film

External links

* [http://www.foxmovies.com/brokedownpalace/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0120620|title=Brokedown Palace