Movies: Life of Pi

Score:  ***** out of ***** (A+)

Long Story Short:  Ang Lee faced significant challenges in translating the book to the big screen but, like Joss Whedon with The Avengers earlier this year, succeeded far beyond my expectations.  The film follows the book faithfully and does it great justice with visual flair, both in the best use of 3D to date and the realistic ocean and animals, and performances that support the significant narrative and emotional weight.  Highly recommended - and please, go see this in 3D.


With a break of just a week, the fall film season marches on.  Yesterday I saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which I will be reviewing next weekend.  However, I finally got to see Life of Pi before that.  As likely many of you know, Life of Pi is an adaptation of the book by Yann Martel.  I read and loved it in high school, and was intrigued when I heard that it was being turned into a film.  At the same time, I was a little dubious about how well it would translate into that medium.  Once I saw the great reviews it was getting, though, my decision was made.  Life of Pi was directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Brokeback Mountain) and stars Suraj Sharma and Irfan Khan, both playing the main character Pi at different ages.

If you've read the book, I'll start off by saying that the film is quite faithful to the book (although I haven't read it in some years so I might be forgetting some parts).  For the rest of you, it starts with a novelist in Canada coming to the home of an Indian named Piscene "Pi" Patel.  The novelist has been directed to Pi by someone who told him that Pi had a spectacular tale to tell, one that would "make you believe in God".  So Pi starts off by giving the novelist a background of his life as a child in India, the son of a zoo keeper, owner of an oft-ridiculed name, and sampler of religions.  Then the family is forced to move to Canada.

The zoo animals are packed onto a huge shipping vessel to sell, and the family stays with the ship's crew.  However, a monster storm sinks the ship, with only Pi making it off on a small lifeboat along with several animals from the zoo.  Soon, the inhabitants of the boat are down to two:  Pi, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.  Pi is forced to try to not only survive in the middle of the ocean, but also co-exist with the deadly animal.  I doubt I'm spoiling it for you when I tell you he makes it - but just as important are the ways in which the journey fundamentally changes him.

Life of Pi has a small cast, as you might imagine.  Pi is obviously the main character, with Suraj Sharma getting the biggest part as the Pi on the boat.  He does an excellent job, primarily with expressing vivid emotions of fear and anger in dealing with the tiger, as well as quiet stares that convey everything from despair to yearning.  His performance is essential to anchoring the audience in the story, and he succeeds.  Irfan Khan, the Pi narrating his experiences, also gets a chunk of time, and he was well cast. He shows an inner calmness that reflects the fact that this man, now living peacefully with a family, has endured and learned so much that he can take it all in stride.  The only other notable character/actor is Santosh, Pi's father played by Adil Hussain.  With limited screen time, he effectively portrays a strong, reason-driven man who is strained by Pi's religiousness but loves him deeply.

Life of Pi is only the third film I have seen in 3D.  The first was Avatar; I found the effects to be pretty, but significantly overrated.  Like the film itself, they were just too big and impersonal to leave much impression.  The second film was Prometheus, which was simply because the 3D showtime worked better for my schedule; it added little to nothing to the film.  Life of Pi, on the other hand, was a perfect choice for using 3D; and an acclaimed, innovative director such as Ang Lee was the perfect filmmaker to handle it.  Life of Pi uses the 3D to astounding success in portraying the close quarters danger as well as some dream-like and hallucinatory sequences.  Beyond the 3D, the ocean environment is also incredibly well done (the ship sinking sequence is utterly terrifying); and the animals are surprisingly realistic, particularly the tiger.

What propels Life of Pi into greatness, however, is the third wheel of the film (in addition to effective human performances and visual excellence):  the story as parable.  Now, those who have read the book know the most direct meaning of "parable" here, and it's included in the film.  However, out of what seems to be a fairly simple tale of a boy and a tiger surviving in the middle of the ocean, there is so much that can be taken.  The best part is, exactly what you take from it can be different from audience to audience, and even separate viewings from the same person can evoke different reactions.  To give you a sample of one of the film's themes to me:  with a sense of spirituality (not necessarily a belief in one God or another), life can become a series of stories that take on meaning deeper than the immediate struggles or joys that they entail.

***

Life of Pi is my first five-star rated film (since the start of my blog in summer 2010).  I consider this A+ rating to mean one or more of the following:  the film is simply perfect in just about every way (I can't think of any off the top of my head); the film holds up or even improves on its excellence over time/ repeat viewings (obviously, not a consideration for these reviews); or the film is excellent and also especially appeals to me personally.  Life of Pi falls into this third category; I can certainly understand how others might not like the film as much.  But at the same time, the strength of the visual style and narrative structure, and the performances to a degree, can't be denied.  If you think you'd like to see this film, I strongly recommend that you see this in the 3D at the theater at least once.  Let the visuals suck you into the story and then sweep you away, and open yourself to the ways in which the fantastic story can be reflected in your own life.