I had read Life of Pi — the book, a few years back and though I liked the book overall, I did find it boring and dragging in parts. The cinematic adaptation of the same opened to great reviews. It has been lauded for its cinematic brilliance and is breathtaking in its 3D format. Visually the movie is extraordinary and the animation is flawless. The simple tale of a young boy, Pi Patel, shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean on a life boat with a Royal Bengal tiger for company makes for an almost fantasy like tale. The story is a coming-of-age tale, an allegory on religion, and a tale of a deeper spiritual struggle within the boy.
There are so many parts of the movie that I found sheer brilliant. The opening scenes where Pi or Piscine and his family are shown are a lovely buildup. The conflict between faith and rationale as is duly depicted by the conflicting views of the parents is very realistic and sets the pace for the things to come. Pi, a Hindu, is slowly motivated to follow Islam and Christianity much to the dismay of his atheist father. The little anecdotes of his childhood are very appealing and make you wish for more. I loved the scenes in his school where his name was persistently ridiculed, the scene where his father teaches him a lesson that animals have no feelings, the dinner table conversation scene, and those about his mamaji.
The story moves forward when the family moves from India to Canada on a freighter that sinks mid journey. The movie then takes us through the journey of Pi as he struggles to stay alive on a small boat along with “Richard Parker” the tiger. Multiple angles like God and submission to the Supreme Power are handled in this rough and tumble journey. Each part of the journey in survival is meticulously shown. How he builds a raft, stores emergency supplies, his uneasy relationship with the tiger and yet the welcome companionship and his final resignation to his fate. The scene on the island was breathtaking as well. The story is being told as a narration by an older Pi (Irrfan) to a Canadian author. The movie though very soothing to the eyes does seem to drag a bit in the middle. But, it neatly falls in place towards the end. The scenes that were the most powerful for me were those towards the end where Pi expresses his sadness at not being able to say bye to the Tiger and not being able to tell his father how much he missed him or learnt from him. Watch Irrfan emote in this scene, and your eyes will tear up too. An impactful scene was where he asks the writer which story he would pick for his novel — the fantastic one or the realistic one. The author choosing the fantastic one gives us an insight in the religious tales that we have all grown up listening to incredulously.
The beauty of the movie is in the spirituality being seen and applied in everyday happenings and not as something that is sought by doing something out of the ordinary. But, I do wish that more time was devoted in exploring the deeper message. That said, we cannot take away from the enormous canvas, visual brilliance and the powerful performance of all the actors. Tabu — why doesn’t she do more movies?, Irrfan and all the characters who played Pi were brilliant, and Adil as Pi’s father was impactful. Ang Lee has made a thoroughly watchable interpretation of Yann Martel’s highly acclaimed book.
So, this is my experience of the movie, Life of Pi! It is a must watch, and the 3D effects are truly amazing and suit the story to the T. You will love it. Be prepared to have some interesting conversations after the movie :).
Image courtesy: Wikipedia.org
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