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Return to Paradise

1998 film by Joseph Ruben

Return to Paradise is a 1998 American drama film about two friends in New York City who must come back to Malaysia to save a third friend from execution on drug charges.

Directed by Joseph Ruben. Written by Wesley Strick and Bruce Robinson, based on the 1989 French movie Force Majeure by Pierre Jolivet and Oliver Schatzky.
Give up three years of their lives or give up the life of their friend. They have eight days to decide.taglines

John "Sheriff" Volgecherev

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  • [opening narration] They were my two best friends in the whole world. For five weeks. It was a total accident we even met. Me, a bum from Brooklyn using phoney frequent-flyer miles. Tony Croft was kind of a golden boy from Harvard School of Architecture. We met Lewis McBride, this long-haired Greenpeace tree-hugger guy. So the plan was to party till we ran out of cash in Malaysia. It was a paradise of rum, girls, and good, cheap hash.
  • [witnessing Lewis McBride being sent to the gallows] I'm here, Lewis, I'm right here. You're not alone, Lewis. Look at me, Lewis. You're not alone, Lewis. Look at me. You're not alone. I'm here. Look at me. See me, Lewis. You're not alone. I'm right here. I'm right here, Lewis, I'm right here. I see you, Lewis. I'm right here. Lewis, you are not alone right now. I'm right here. You are not alone, Lewis. I see you. I see you, Lewis. I'm right here. You're not alone. You are not alone, Lewis!

Dialogue

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[Sheriff drives Beth, who reveals she knows a Lewis McBride who asked her to look him up in New York, but when he asks if Lewis is in the city...]
Beth Eastern: Sheriff, the day you and Tony left Penang, a man came looking for a bike you guys had rented. He brought the police. Only they didn't find the bike, but they did find 104 grams of hashish, some stashed in the hut, some in the trash.
John "Sheriff" Volgecherev: Jesus Christ. And Lewis caught hell for that, huh?
Beth: Yeah. He's spent the last two years in prison.
Sheriff: Oh, my God. Jesus Christ. What a nightmare that must be, huh? Is he still in prison now?
Beth: For eight more days, yeah.
Sheriff: I wish I'd have known sooner. I don't know if I could have done anything but... At least he's getting out in eight days though, huh?
Beth: That's not the case. Anybody found with more than 100 grams of hashish is considered to be trafficking.
Sheriff: Trafficking? What is that, like, dealing?
Beth: Sheriff, in order for Lewis not to be considered a dealer, you and Tony have to fly back to Penang and accept your share of the responsibility.
Sheriff: And what about me and Tony? What happens to us?
Beth: The deal was that if both of you go back, it's three years apiece, and if only one of you goes back, it's six.
Sheriff: Wait. Hold on. It's three? It's six? Finish that sentence for me please. You're talking about three years in prison. Six years in prison.
Beth: Let me make this clear to you. In Malaysia, dealers get death.
Sheriff: Jesus Christ, for a shitty brick of hash? So, you're telling me, that in eight days from right now...
Beth: Lewis McBride is going to hang.
[Having heard Sheriff's appeal, the judge returns to the chamber]
Chief Judge: The Deputy Home Minister is angered about some international news story.
Beth McBride: I'm not sure what.
Chief Judge: A story that was picked up by the Asian International Tribune. [reads article] "In a country proud of its many species of exotic butterflies, a butterfly is about to be broken on a wheel. The wheel is Malaysian justice, a term which strikes one American woman as a cruel joke.
Beth: Your Honour...
Chief Judge: "The woman is Beth McBride... "
Beth: I didn't do this.
Chief Judge: "... whose brother was arrested two years ago in Penang. Blamed for having bought hashish with two friends, this nature-loving young man now, incredibly, faces death. "
Beth: She was determined to write the story.
Chief Judge: Silence! We know you Westerners don't understand our attitude toward drugs, but we don't understand yours. Your cities are decaying, the souls of your young people are stolen from you. Our laws may seem harsh but our streets remain safe and our youth is protected. So when an American journalist criticises our judicial system...
Beth: Your Honour, I begged her not to.
Chief Judge: Silence! Lewis McBride, Janganan untuk pamarminda takwan...
Beth: [to lawyer] What is he saying? What is he saying?
Lawyer: He will not amend the charge now. Lewis must be hanged tomorrow.

Taglines

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  • Give up three years of their lives or give up the life of their friend. They have eight days to decide.

Cast

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