Life of Pi

I really enjoyed the book upon which this film was based, so I have looked forward a to seeing this movie since the day it was released.  I was not only intrigued by the story, but also by the presence of Ang Lee as the director intrigued me greatly.  If ever a director works like a painter, it is Ang Lee.  I have not seen all of his films, but the ones I have seen are exquisite visual works.  Not only that, they also depict human emotion and struggle very well.  Here, we are given a story that is laced with tragedy and survival, pain and hope.  Furthermore, it is an adventure, and the multifaceted spirit of the book is depicted in the film very well.

Piscine Patel is a young boy growing up in a part of India called Ponticherry, an area which was colonized by France.  He is named after a swimming pool in Paris, but because his name sounds like a crude word describing a bodily function, he shortens his name to Pi.  He grows up as a Hindu, but along the way comes to fall in love with elements both in Christianity and Islam.  While his rationalist father mocks his faith, Pi attempts to maintain his Hindu-Chrisitan-Islam-ness.  Pi's Father owns and runs a zoo, so Pi grows up with animals around him, and learns to both appreciate them and have a healthy respect for them.  When his family begins to encounter financial trouble, they decide to move to Canada.  They board an ocean liner with the animals (which they have sold), and head to North America.  Tragically, the ocean liner sinks, and Pi alone survives the wreck, along with several of the animals on the ship.  The story then becomes one of survival, as Pi is force do coexist on a life boat with 4 animals-a zebra, orangutan, hyena and a fearsome tiger named Richard Parker.  This whole story is told in flashback by a middle aged Pi, who is recounting his story to a man suffering from writer's bloc.

The story that originally comes from the book is one that is tough to visualize outside of the imagination.  That is what makes the film rendering of it so special.  Ang Lee uses brilliant colors in this movie almost as if they themselves are characters.  There is also such extraordinary imagination in his use of the camera and the shots he uses to communicate the story.  There is a stunning shot early on in the movie which surrounds adult Pi's recounting of the pool in Paris which was his namesake.  The pool is described as containing crystal clear water, but the shot that Lee uses to communicate that is so wonderful that we hardly needed the spoken description of Pi.  The visual imagination of the movie pairs well with the story it tells.  This is not merely a special effects piece.  The movie gives us living, breathing characters who have struggles, doubts and triumphs.  Their story is every bit as captivating as the visuals themselves.  It also deals in ways with faith and doubt that few films approach.  Its depiction of religion is somewhat positive, as Pi finds his own faith, even as it is criticized and mocked by his father.  Whether the viewer is a person of faith or not, the film deals with people's faith, which is a major part of the human experience which is not dealt with in film as much as I would like.  To be able to balance such extraordinary visuals with a great story and the deep pondering of the big questions is a noteworthy achievement.

There are always healthy debates about movies made from books.  I cannot think of too many movies that realize books better than this.  Perhaps "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Lord of the Rings", and the "Harry Potter" series are in this category.  This movie does what the best movies made from books do.  It honors the story told in the book, and brings a visual imagination to the words in the book that in no way diminish the book.  This movie is one person's recounting of a novel.  It shows Ang Lee's (and his collaborators) mental picture of the words found in Yann Martel's novel.  I still can have my own mental images of the novel, but being able to see a fine film maker like Lee's vision is equally captivating.  Ang Lee won the best director Oscar for this film while his film lost to "Argo" for Best Picture.  While "Argo" was an enjoyable caper, this movie is in a different category.  What a profound work of vision and imagination it is.