Turtle Beach

Australian journalist Judith Wilkes (Scacchi) leaves her estranged husband and children and takes off for Malaysia, where Vietnamese boat people are being slaughtered or moved into makeshift holding camps. Once there, her main contact is Vietnamese ex-prostitute Minou (Chen), now married to the Australian High Commissioner, who seeks to be reunited with the three children she left behind in Saigon. In the process of researching her story, Judith abandons professional objectivity and becomes emotionally involved, both with Minou and with black marketeer Kanan (Malik). Ann Turner's stilted script is burdened by a metaphorical link between the life-cycle of giant sea turtles and that of boat people who land on the same spot. Even worse is the clumsy editing and flat direction, Wallace indulging in innumerable close-ups in an attempt to emphasise emotional tension.