“Life of Pi”, Ang Lee’s film based on Yann Martels’s novel, casts us away in a sea of adventures. From scenes of exotic animals kept in a sunlit zoo in India, to phenomenal battles of survival, courage and struggle after a mighty shipwreck, “Life of Pi” is a young man’s courageous battle for survival against all odds.
The story follows the curious Piscine (Pi), beginning with his early days growing up in India with his family and father, a zookeeper. The plot then covers his heart-rending battles against loss and isolation after facing a disastrous shipwreck. Growing up, Pi becomes fascinated by his father’s Bengal Tiger and one day sneaks away in an attempt to feed and play with it, only to be caught by his older brother Rabi.
After this incident, his father warns him to keep away from the animals. Soon, after some financial problems, Pi’s father decides to sell the zoo animals and the family sets off on a ship to Canada. On the way there, a devastating shipwreck leaves Pi as the only human survivor.
He dives into a lifeboat with a few unexpected companions: a zebra, a hyena, a female orang-utan and the ferocious Bengal Tiger. Alone in the middle of the deepest part of the Pacific and with only these animals for company, Pi’s only hope for survival now is to learn how to live with them.
The actors playing Pi (Gautam Belur at 5, Ayush Tandon at 12 and Suraj Sharma at 16) do an exquisite job in bringing alive the emotion, passion and poignancy into the story. It doesn’t take long to sympathise, even empathise (at some points) with the experiences of Pi, and feel and be touched by the emotions that he goes through. What is more, considering that this Sharma’s first major acting role, he impressively manages to hold the majority of the film together, making Pi’s nautical journey as convincing as his spiritual one.
He confronts starvation and thirst, endures mighty storms, a school of dolphins, a squadron of flying fish and sleepless nights; he discovers an unknown island of meerkats and finds a modus vivendi with a ferocious tiger. From the beginning Pi’s sense of curiosity and adventure is shown through his fascination of his father’s ferocious animals, as well as his attraction to religion and God.
The film treats these with respectful wit, taking us into a unique physical and spiritual journey. Although the idea of a young man abandoned at sea with a tiger after a mighty shipwreck seems bizarre at first, the story as a whole addresses different aspects of life relevant to all of us, from family and friendship to religion, sacrifice and struggle.
The state of the art 3D technology’s ability to create magnificently digitally-created beasts is mind-blowing, and the attention to detail makes you forget sometimes that the animals are not real. The animals’ expressions and movements are reproduced very accurately and for once watching the film in 3D really is worth the couple of extra pounds.
At some points the animals’ sudden movements on the lifeboat will have you jumping off your seat, and the shipwreck is one of the best, most dramatic scenes in the film. Overall, the film is a true masterpiece with its effective use of state of the art technology and its poetic and prosaic coda.
It concludes with a fascinating twist, answering many questions that rise up in the film. Although you might find some parts slightly dragging and unnecessary, I would highly recommend this film to all movie lovers – especially in 3D. I would not however recommend it to those with those with a short attention span and younger children, who may prefer action-packed films or the like, as you do have to stay focussed to understand the story. This film has really inspired for me now is to dig into Yann Martels very novel!