Life of Pi is a unique movie which I’m surprised was only rated PG. It is definitely not a children’s movie despite being based on a children’s book and having a PG rating. The subject matter is powerful and at times abstract and some of the scenes of violence are quit intense. Overall, it was an intriguing spiritual journey, yet one that I found over rated. Reviews have compared it to Avatar, but I found the only similarity was the use of the occasional phosphorous scenery. If I had to compare it to another movie, it would be a more metaphorical version of ‘Castaway’ with Tom Hanks.
The film centers on an Indian boy named PI (Ayush Tandum) whose family has decided to sell their zoo and move to Canada for a new life. On the ship voyage across the Pacific they encounter a violent storm which capsizes the boat and only Pi and a Bengal tiger survive by making it to the life boat. Pi is adrift in the middle of the Pacific in a life boat with a wild tiger facing starvation. Not an attractive scenario given that Pi is probably viewed as food.
The majority of the film takes place on the life boat with Pi and the Tiger (named Richard Parker [interesting story behind the name]) trying to find a way to co-exist in the face of death and starvation. What I admire about this film is that they didn’t try to humanize the tiger as most films would. Richard Parker is not one of our jungle friends. He is a predator. Not good or evil, rather it’s just what he is. Pi believes he can see the tiger’s soul in it’s eyes, and he very well might be able too, but that doesn’t mean that the tiger will act like a human.
The early scenes of Pi trying to survive are intensely realistic and terrifying given the tiger’s ferocity. I made the mistake of taking my 11 year old niece and it was a little too much for her. Slowly, the two develop a way to co-exist, but with the proper fear and respect that the tiger could kill him at any moment if he lets his guard down. These were some of the more poignant scenes in the film as the mutual respect slowly established itself. The two are adrift for longer than one would think possible, but Pi develops survival skills that keep both himself and Richard Parker minimally fed.
As the weeks pass, the film transcends into abstraction. The director Ang Lee was obviously influenced by Avatar in his use of phosphorus colors at night and utilizes the Ocean’s full color palette and beyond. It’s as if as Pi becomes more delirious from his journey, we participate in his delirium. From here, we begin to lose track of what is reality and what is metaphor. The voyage into Pi’s spiritual revelations are laid out before us to interpret.
My major issue with this film is that towards the end Ang Lee feels the need to spell out what all the symbolism means as opposed to letting us come up with our own answers. When you paint by the numbers with spirituality, it loses something, I think. I did like that the answers weren’t necessarily as clear cut as a typical Hollywood movie would portray. It’s safe to say that there will not be any Richard Parker stuffed tiger animals as Charlie is portrayed the way a tiger actually is and not the way we want them to be.
As I stated earlier, don’t go expecting a kid friendly PG film because, despite the rating, it is violent and intense. The suffering that Pi and the tiger endure being adrift at sea is very real. I am glad that it was made and it was an interesting spiritual exercise, but don’t go expecting the epic they are trying to bill it as.
I give this film *** stars.
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