El lago azul

When I was 17 years old I stayed up till 3am one night to watch a late showing of this film. I had seen clips of 'The Blue Lagoon' when I was younger and it always remained embedded in my mind. The truth is that no movie has ever affected me like this one. I didn't know what force made me feel such deep sensations - whether it was the magnificent exotic island, Emmeline's beauty, the heart-capturing sound track or a combination of all - all I knew is that I longed to be there. I longed to be in such an idealistic and beautiful haven (no matter how unrealistic it seemed). But now I've come to live in the 'real world'. All I can do now is appreciate the idea of the film and the important themes it represents. Such a dream only exists in Heaven.

i have not seen this film in many years, and saw it unedited last week on TCM. when i was a boy, the film's main appeal was in its edenic milieu, its charged moments of wonder and terror, and brooke shields' extraordinary beauty and gamine charm. those qualities are all still there. But the film tells another story that i missed before: two children ripped from civilization struggle to make sense of the world and themselves. this is no rousseau inspired romp. the pulse and power of natures' force wrecks them, engulfs them, confines them and finally asserts itself through em and dick. the question is begged: where does human will and intellect figure in chaos of pubescence, sexuality and love? how helpless or powerful are we to control the furies of love or sex? more helpless than not, the filmaker seems to be saying. kleiser interposes the stereopticon pictures of the staid victorian couple with similar scenes of em and dick to highlight this point. naked or clothed, in a drawing room or on a beach, we all experience the torrent of love in very much the same way. instinct races ahead, sense chases behind in confusion. "blue lagoon" tells a timeless human story in a very simple style. this movie is better for talking to kids about growing up than any 10 sex education pamphlets. and if an adult cannot remember how this felt when they were young, a little part of them has already died. a good movie

This movie is about love and romance. It is about 2 children who are stranded forced to learn everything about survival and life on there own. They are also forced to deal with very adult issues on their own such as Patty's death. Patty was the only adult to be stranded with them. His death came when he found a keg of rum, got drunk and decided to swim for his rescue. This happened shortly after they were marooned and the kids found him dead in the morning. Up until that point Patty had been giving them advice and trying to raise them the best that he could. I found it charming that they still had the vocabulary of a child even into adulthood but gradually they started figuring more things out, for instance, there is a big scene about Emeline realizing that there really a Santa and that the sun doesn't really make a hissing sound when it sinks into the ocean each night.

There was some press at the time about them, (Christpher Atkins, and Brooke Shields) doing nude scenes which resulted in them not actually being nude at all in the film, they are wearing body stockings in the water.

My review has nothing to do with the perfect beauty of Brooke Shields because I am a straight female. Brooke was at her most radiant.

One excellent part of the film comes after the two have been bickering for days and then Emeline becomes sick and falls asleep. It forced the viewer to think about how much grief would be felt by one if the other should die, really all they had was each other and eventually a baby. Everything depended on them both staying alive.

I believe that anyone who didn't love this movie as much as me, missed the entire story somehow. It wasn't about Brooke being nude and it wasn't about life in paradise it was about innocence. This was a huge hit film back in it's day and launched Brooke's career into super stardom.

Often while watching this movie I asked myself, How would filmmakers tackle this or that scene today, 25 years later? And while I am certainly not going to applaud 'The Blue Lagoon' as an overlooked masterpiece, CERTAINLY not!, it is still a far cry better than the standard teenage soft-porn that is on offer today.

Basically, 'The Blue Lagoon' is about two horny teenagers finding their own path towards sexual fulfillment and adulthood, and it strives to point the way for its multitudes of teenage audiences with some dignity and even fearlessness. Today footage of completely naked infants as well as pre-teens and teens would simply never be realized or even permitted in mainstream OR art cinema, God forbid! Brooke Shields' frank alluding to Christopher Atkins' masturbatory habits could, in a movie today, only be filmed amidst a sea of giggles, whereas in 1980 they did it very deadpan and honestly.

The film is full of quite touching scenes and gently, if not exactly marvelously acted. I liked Atkins' prayer that the sick Shields be saved, and he doesn't remember how a prayer goes: "Our Father who art in Heaven ... Kingdom come ... Liberty and justice for all. Amen". They don't lead terribly eventful lives on that desert island, but their everyday rituals are beautifully filmed, and the underwater sequences are memorable.

The Blue Lagoon is one of those strangely captivating movies. A unique storyline, and well cast characters. For two young actors they manage to portray compelling chemistry and honesty. Though of course the two people growing up on a semi deserted island would just happen to be absolutely gorgeous.