This is how I would have done this.

I have not seen the remake only the original, and I have been trying to figure out a way to make this movie, in a more modern way, for many years. The original had a lot of passion due to the conflict between a not so intelligent, but very rich capitalist women, who was made rich because her husband happened to like the way she did "it", and had no other talents than, pardon me, screwing into wealth, and a illiterate, but very intelligent hard working facist, who had to strugle to survive to the point of never getting a proper education, and learning all he knew of political protest from the protestors themselves, and knowing more than if those who studied in school.

The only way to get that much tension in this day and age, to make the movie have the same deal of passion, and protest is if the role of the man was written as a black man, who studies Islam, and has to struggle at a low paing job he hates, and the woman was written as a rich, Jewish wife, who's life consist of planning luncheons for her friends to discuss how to plan next weeks luncheon.

The fact that this White + Jewish woman , is trying to order him arround after they become stranded, and is treating him lick her personal slave would make it seem more logical when he snaps and starts slapping her around. And can you imagine the thought of him slapping her, and demanding that she call him "Master"? And when they fall in love despite their differnces, and she leaves him to go back to her life, because dispite her love she would never be able to explain him in her social circles. Then there would be his disgust at allowing himself to fall for someone, who stands for every thing he hates, but the knowlegde that dispite it all he truly loves her, and dosen't want to be without her.

That's how I would've re-written this movie.