Film Review: Life of Pi

Having read the novel on which the movie is based, many years ago, I like the rest of the world had thought this would be an impossible movie to make. But what expected was certainly not what I ended up viewing: a classic movie.

Life of Pi has you in its thrall from the first. Considering that even the Booker-prize winning author of the original book (2001) Yann Martel approved, it is hard not to like the film.  While the 3D version has been highly acclaimed, the regular 2D version is also great to watch and watch you must, movie buff or not.

The film begins with the haunting voice of Bombay Jayashree, which had the North Indian in the seat next to me wondering if it was a Malayalam movie. With the initial, captivating shots of the animals in the zoo the movie will have your undivided attention for the entire 127 minutes.

The movie takes place in early twentieth century Pondicherry. The protagonist is a sixteen-year old boy Piscine Molitor Patel, named after a swimming pool in France, thanks to his uncle. The humiliation caused by his name, when everyone in school starts calling him Pissing, forces the younger version of the protagonist to change his name to Pi – a scene that is highly amusing. The adult Pi (played by Irfan Khan) retells the story to an author. This author, who has a writer’s block, has been sent to Pi by his uncle with the implication that Pi’s story would make him believe in God.

After an amusing retelling of his childhood, which included the introduction of the Tamil Hindu Pi to Christianity and Islam, as well as his first love, Pi explains how his incredible journey came about. As a result of political turbulence in the country, Pi’s parents, played by Adil Hussain and Tabu, decide to take the family and the animals to Canada. This is how the distraught Pi ends up on a Japanese freighter named the Tsimtsum.

But the ill-fated ship meets disaster when a storm at sea sinks leaving Pi, an injured zebra, an orangutan and a hyena the only survivors aboard a lifeboat. The hungry hyena kills the other two animals but is in turn killed by another undetected survivor – Richard Parker, the tiger. The appearance of the tiger has Pi scrambling to make a raft from lifejackets to avoid being eaten by the tiger. Thus begins the journey of 227 days by sea where Pi learns to survive and feed himself and the tiger.

Pi’s attempts to find food at sea, fill the boredom and train the tiger, keeps the viewer hooked. After a failed attempt at being rescued by a passing ship the boat ends up on a floating island of algae. But they leave when Pi discovers the island is carnivorous. Watch the film to know how.

The finally reach land where Pi is upset when Richard Parker leaves him to enter the jungle. Pi explains he wasn’t upset with the tiger because it left but because, in Pi’s words, “All of life is an act of letting go but what hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye”. The insurance agents of the ship find his story hard to believe and so Pi concocts another more believable story which the author notes is strikingly similar to the original tale though the animals have been replaced by human characters.

Director Ang Lee, though not the original choice for the movie, has done a fabulous job in creating wholesome entertainment. Claudio Miranda's beautiful cinematography and Mychael Danna's intoxicating score make it a worthwhile watch. The amazing CG creation of the Bengal Tiger and other animals will have you believe you’re seeing the real thing.

The teenage Pi is played by Suraj Sharma, chosen from amongst almost 3,000 young men who auditioned. Sharma had to undergo extensive training in ocean survival as well as yoga and meditation in preparation for the part.

In Taiwan, Ang Lee's home country, the ocean scenes of the film were shot at a giant wave tank built by the crew in an abandoned airport. The tank is currently known as the world’s largest self-generating wave tank, with a capacity of 1.7 million gallons. The rest of the movie was shot between India and Canada.

Despite reservations about the success of the movie which had a relatively unknown international cast, the movie grossed almost $109,901,300 USD worldwide and still counting. The movie has been highly acclaimed by the critics and there is talk of possible Oscars as well. My recommendation? This is one movie that should not be missed.