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Review: Life of Pi (film)

By Christine Petralia

Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox

November 24, 2012


*Note: I have not read the book, so this review is strictly what the film was about.



Wow. What a film. I have to be honest, I didn’t know much about this film, or the 2001 novel that it was based on when I walked into the theater. But I walked in with an open mind and I loved it!

The film opens with a brief narration about a boy who was born in a zoo and then pans to present day. Piscine (Pi) Molitor Patel (Irrfan Kahn) is speaking to a writer (Rafe Spall) about his life. The writer explains he met a man while on a trip to write his next book told him to seek out Pi. The man told the writer Pi can teach him to believe in God by telling him his life story.



The adult Pi starts his story as a boy growing up in India with his parents and older brother. He tells the writer the origin of his name Pi and then explains that as a child, he was curious about religion. He was raised a Hindu, but at the age of 14, he was introduced to Christianity and Islam and he studied all three. A few years later his father informs him that they must sell the zoo animals and move to Canada.



Soon, Pi’s family is on a Japanese freight ship with their animals headed to North America. Somewhere off the Philippines in the Ocean, a strong storm comes upon the ship. Pi is awakened by the sound of what he thinks is thunder and makes his way to the ship’s deck. He soon sees that the ship is taking on too much water and he swims his way to find his family. He can’t make it and somehow, he is the only one to make it off the ship onto a small boat before the vessel sinks with the entire crew and his family. Along with Pi (Suraj Sharma), an injured zebra, a spotted hyena, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger make it onto the boat as well.



After a few days at sea with no food or water, the hyena attacks the zebra and eventually the orangutan. The Bengal tiger comes out of hiding and kills the hyena. Pi, always frightened of the tiger named Richard Parker, eventually finds a survival kit, food and water in the boat and he fashions a float that he stays on to keep a safe distance from the tiger. After a few more days, Pi catches fish to feed the tiger. And after what seems like weeks and months, Pi tries to train the tiger so they can live together on the boat. During a storm, Pi loses the makeshift raft and basically gives up hope and surrenders to God, hoping that he will soon be with his family again in the afterlife. But, God has another plan for him, he realizes, as he and Richard Parker survive with all of their food out to sea. And just when Pi gives up again, they come upon an island filled of vegetation and meerkats. After just a day and night there, he realizes that the island is carnivorous. So he stocks the boat with food for him and Richard Parker and they set out to sea again.



They finally end up on a beach in Mexico, where Richard Parker disappears into the woods without even a glance back at Pi who is lying on the sand. After a few hours, he is rescued and brought to a hospital.



An adult Pi then explains to the writer that he was questioned at the hospital by the Japanese about how the ship sank, as he was the only survivor. He tells the investigators the story and they don’t believe him, so he tells them another story. In this story, his mother, the ship’s cook and a crew member make it off the ship. After some time, the cook, in an attempt to ‘save’ him, kills the injured crew member. After a day, the cook and Pi’s mother struggle and the cook kills his mother too. In a rage, Pi then kills the cook and then lived on the boat for 227 days until he ended up in Mexico.



The writer asks Pi which story is the actual truth. It is then that Pi asks him what he believes, because in both stories, the reason as to why the ship sank is never figured out. The writer says he believes the story of the tiger and then asks if he can write his next book about Pi, who, of course, says ‘yes.’

Not only is this story interesting and makes you think, it is visually stimulating. The scenes at sea on the water are stunning. I highly recommend seeing this in the theater. However, if you have the option to see it not in 3D, go ahead and save your money and see it in a regular theater. While some of the film is in 3D, I don’t really think it’s necessary.

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