Thursday, November 7, 2013
Life
of Pi (2012)
Cast:
Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain
Director:
Ang Lee
Synopsis: A tragedy at sea strikes Pi Patel (Suraj
Sharma) and his family while they travel from India to Canada leaving just Pi
and a tiger on a lifeboat, stranded and fighting against each other to survive
the harsh conditions of being lost at sea. In order to survive, Pi must rely on
the provisions of God and learn to handle the good and bad situations that
occur in his life.
Reviewer’s
rating: 3.4/5
Review:
Ang Lee had delivered many different genres of movies and
continues to change his style of movie making for this film as opposed to his
previous movies (Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon, 2000; Brokeback Mountain,
2005). Lee fills our hearts with awe-inspiring visual effects bringing the
ocean and our imaginations to life.
When the adult Pi Patel is asked about his quest to find
God, He takes us through a vivid story of his survival at sea with a Bengal
tiger in the life raft with him. His family needed to move from India to Canada
after they were forced out of the lease for their zoo. Once their boat capsizes
and He stuck on the boat, he goes through an unbelievable tale about Richard
Parker (the Bengal tiger), carnivorous floating tree islands, and the power of
nature. The story is truly unbelievable
and when it was told to the Japanese reporters who questioned him about his
survival they denied his journey and asked for a more believable story they
could write about. Instead he tells a realistic story of how he was stuck on
the lifeboat with three other survivors who were all killed by each other
within the first week of being on the boat. After telling the two stories, he
leaves his past ambiguous by not telling the true story but asks the reporter
what story he wanted to believe and essentially offering the idea that we can
choose to believe God and the extraordinary life or the believable rational
life.
The movie itself poses many thought-provoking questions
concerning God and his existence given our present circumstances whether they
are good or bad. Lee’s ability to characterize a tiger and the ocean as well
pulls us into a story which otherwise would be story with only one character.
The acting on behalf of Suraj Sharma (Pi) reveals the struggles we face within
our own being and did a good job at acting out his own thoughts when no one was
there to see them.
From a Christian world perspective, the life of Pi shows
many blatant references to postmodernism by presenting Pi as a Muslim, Hindu,
and Christian. It also displays faith in God as being opposed to reality and
rationality, which is a low, two dimensional view of any religion. Objectively,
it presents the idea that true meaning does not always come simply as it
appears to us in real life and does a great job at displaying this through the
two stories and for this, it is a captivating film that I believe is
entertaining and intriguing.
By Jordan Smith
