The Life of Pi

The LIFE of Pi (2012)

d- Ang Lee
w- Davis Magee
dp- Claudio Miranda

"The Life of Pi" is a story about one boy's search for God, and the tragedies in his life which bring about his spiritual growth. It's part allegory, part fable, part good old fashioned yarn, but as such, doesn't quite knit together into a consistent whole.
Pi is a young boy living a middle class life in India in the 1960's. His father owns a zoo in a town on the Coast, what's described as the "Indian Riviera". He leads a normal life, but it's clear early on that he's not an average, normal boy. He's extremely bright, soulful - what you'd call mature for his years. One of the inmates at the zoo who fascinates young Pi is a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (the hunter who caught him was mixed up with the animal on the ownership papers). When Pi's family decides to move to Canada, they book passage on a Japanese freighter, so that they can take the whole menagerie with them and sell the animals in Canada, and make a profit to live on till financial solvency is found. During the journey, a huge storm is encountered in the region of the Marianas trench, the ship founders, and Pi is the only survivor, cast at sea in a single lifeboat. But he is not the only survivor in the boat. A Zebra, a Hyena, and an orange Orangutan names Orange Juice make it also. Oh...and and Richard Parker, the full grown adult, angry Tiger. (SPOILERS) The hyena kills the zebra, the Orangutan clubs the hyena, the hyena then kills the orangutan, and the tiger kills the hyena. Only Pi, who has managed to improvise a raft of oars and flotsam, is able to fend off the hungry, angry tiger. What follows is their months long effort to survive and forge a co-dependency and truce.

The photography is breath taking, though I continue to find little value in the 3D thing. It's a distraction and an annoyance to me. The images would be just as stunning in NormalVision. Lee's use of surrealistic scenes of the ocean's iridescence via jellyfish, etc. subtly imply an alternate reality without being overt.
The film is structured as a memory play, and the performances by both the young Pi (Suraj Sharma) and the older Pi (Irrfan Khan) , as he tells, in monologue, the story, are extremely effective. I can't honestly say on one viewing who's is the better. Certainly the young Pi is given an opportunity to show an astounding emotional range, which he uses brilliantly. (MORE SPOILERS) The scene where he is almost mad with hunger and he places the dying Richard Parker's head in his lap and says "Richard Parker, we are dying." was a big tear jerker for me.
Structurally, the pacing was inconsistent, and some bits dragged a little. There could have been a bit of judicious pruning, but what I took away was a moving film experience, well worth it. There is an interesting ending, which I won't reveal, except to say it leaves the viewer with food for thought. The themes explored of faith and belief, as opposed to objective evidence and critical analysis, and how it is, in the storyteller's mind, capable of balancing both, were for me very resonant. It's what I'm pondering a lot today. It almost makes me see room for a belief in faith and God.
I'm gonna give this....... wait for it...

 

three and a half morrises