The Life of Pi visually, is a stunning masterpiece. An amazing testament to the true art of cinema. Director Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, shows that his use of the medium is exquisite and incredibly beautiful. I am told that this film should be seen in 3D as this will enhance the experience even more. Unfortunately my initial viewing was in the 2D process but I have no doubts that 3D is the way to go. I very rarely go to the same film twice in theaters but I will attend Life of Pi again and next time upgrade to 3D. Not to see the difference in the two processes, but because the story line is so multi-layered, mysterious, and symbolic that I need to see it again just to fully digest this film.
To me that is what makes this a wonderful movie. It is very deep and as the plot unfolds you begin to wonder what is real and what is perhaps imagined. The story is very complex and involving which makes it all the more difficult to describe. Simple synopsis won't do it justice but I will try.
The film begins in the present day with a writer contacting Pi because he has been told that Pi has a story "that will make you believe in God". Intrigued, the writer sits down with Pi, and the plot unfolds. In a series of flashbacks Pi tells his life story. It starts with Pi recounting his childhood in India. He was originally named after a swimming pool in France, Piscine Molitor (Patel). His bullying schoolmates give him the nickname "pissing Patel". So the following year he gives himself the nickname Pi. Pi, he explains, is the irrational, or transcendental number which represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter. It has no definite end (much like the human soul itself). He is raised in a section of Pondicherry which once was colonized by the French and has all the appearances of a town in the south of France. His father converts the city's botanical gardens into a zoo and this is where Pi spends his youth. Along the way he forges a deep connection with the animals there. Could this be a reference to the Garden of Eden? The vision of India, and it's culture is one of mystical beauty. Every frame of this film is set with lush color and sweet composition. This movie is very spiritual indeed and many questions about God are raised. As a boy Pi is raised as a Hindu, but he later embraces Christianity and Islam. Practicing all three at the same time. Pi explains that he "just wants to love God". His father is bemused and tells him he needs to pick one thing to believe in, otherwise it's like believing in nothing at all. There's lots of humor and subplots in this first section of the movie which I just can't cover here. I need to save some surprises for you when you see it.
As Indian society changes and city cutbacks to the zoo make it unsustainable, sound familiar?, it is decided by the father that they will have to sell all the animals and relocate to Winnepeg Canada. So it is done and the family book passage on a Japanese freighter with all their animals heading for the great white north. A reference to Noah's Ark? Three days out they encounter a ferocious storm which sinks the ship. Only one lifeboat is launched which Pi has been thrown into. He is alone save for an injured zebra, an orangutan, and a hyena. The hyena, kills the orangutan and also starts to eat the zebra. Soon Pi is fighting off the ravenous hyena with an oar while standing atop a tarpaulin which is covering about half of the lifeboat. Suddenly a Bengal Tiger emerges from under the tarp, bites the hyena and drags it underneath to devour the wild dog. Trapped with this dangerous carnivore we finally get to the meat of this story. :) Pi fashions a raft out of life vests and oars, in order to gain distance from the tiger. Thus begins the adventure of Pi. His struggle for survival and the process of finding a truer, deeper meaning to life itself. I have barely scratched the surface of this film merely giving you the setting for what becomes a story line rarely seen in film.
Life of Pi is a symbolically allegorical tale of this young man's triumph after 277 days lost at sea. I would say the final third of the film makes you begin to question exactly what it is you are watching. All the while enveloping you in a shroud of mystical wonder. I saw this movie with a friend and we talked about it for a good half hour. I thought about it for some time to come after I got home. This is the mark of a great film. Fantasic visuals and effects to be sure but Life of Pi is so much more. Seeing this movie is like watching a beautiful dream. I can't wait to see it again, this time in 3D.
I give this movie an A+. If you want to impress a date take them to this movie and afterward pontificate over all the symbolism.
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