Movie Review – Life of Pi

Life of Pi is directed by Ang Lee and adapted from the award-winning book by Yann Martel.

An Indian boy Pi Patel, the son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, survives a shipwreck and lives on a lifeboat lost in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days with a Bengal tiger Richard Parker. When he was young, he was a vegetarian boy who did not eat meat and treated animals as friends. His father taught him how to survive. His father threw him to the swimming pool then he learned how to swim. He also showed him how animals kill animals to fill hunger. 

The family of a Zoo keeper is heading to Canada by ship. They encounter a shipwreck during the journey. All people cannot survive. A crewman throws Pi and Pi’s mother into a lifeboat. His adversity begins. A lifeboat carries only a zebra, a hyena, a female orang-utan and the gigantic Bengal tiger Richard Parker for company. In the film Cast Away,  the volleyball becomes Chunk Noland’s company when he is trapped on a deserted island.

The animals are the metaphor of the people on the boat. His mother for the orangutan, an amiable Buddhist sailor for the zebra, the ship's brutish cook for the hyena, and Pi himself for Richard Parker. At that time, they are like animals in the food chain in the carnivore ecosystem. When he reaches the land, he sees the unseen beauty of nature and marine animals like a whale. He survives the storm in the ocean. How can humans fight with nature? When a person sees the power of nature, he/she will only realize human beings are so small. When the storm comes, it can swallow a person in a big wave. Even if he knows how to swim, he can die in the stormy weather. In the impossible, the lives of many people are deprived by the flood. Everything such as your apartment, your belongings, and your loved one can be gone In the blink of an eye. When the egos of people can go as big as they can be, the power of nature gives you a lesson that human beings are very small. That is the time people start to believe in god. All the glories belong to god.

Why does he make up a tiger Richard Parker to talk about his experience? A boy struggles to kill people. That was a horrible experience so he had to detach himself to the experience. He does not know how to cope with the tragedy. He creates an animal to tell the experience. Her mother lets Pi eat the meat of the dead person. He sees the cook kill her mother. Then, he kills the cook. He kills people to survive like an animal, a Bengal tiger Richard Parker. Surviving like an animal is a state of survival in mind. The animal side of Pi appears when he is not ready to know how to survive in the wild. Who would imagine people will become animals one day? A man can be that fierce to survive. People have to be thirsty to chase what they want. The suffocating and breathless experience in the sea under the storm strikes him hard. The cook arouses Pi’s instinct to kill him to protect Pi’s mother. A boy grows rapidly after the incident. The dangerous situation makes a vegetarian to kill people. Even when he kills a fish, he will say sorry. He has never seen this side of him. He lets go of the tiger implying he does not want to face that terrible situation anymore. Most importantly, humans are not animals that we can think and feel. Humans will feel guilty and have internal struggles after doing something he has never imagined. The reporter from the press asks about his incident. People who never suffer do not want to see cruelty by nature. No one understands each other.

Life is hard. Many people who suffered in a hard situation may echo with the situation of Pi. Modern people will not be lost in the ocean and fall into a helpless situation. The film Nightcrawler depicts what modern people will do when facing a hard living situation. People can be twisted when they go to the dead end. If Pi were a Hong Konger, his story could be stored in Human Library Hong Kong.

In the film, the director Ang Li presents the horrible incident wisely. He does not show the cruel visual scene to present the cruelty. He only shows the metaphor on screen. Moreover, when people encounter adversity, they start to believe in god to regain strength. Therefore, they can purify themselves. Most of the Indian believe in Hinduism. Pi also believes in Hinduism. It is believed that Hinduism has 33 million gods. Also, many people start their spiritual journey in India. Indians are keen to do physical practice to maintain good well-being. They also invented Ayurveda which is a 5000-year-old medical system that uses natural and holistic approaches to keeping your mind, body and spirit healthy and in balance. Even though the tragedy is cruel to Pi, the writer leaves hope to him. Water and lotus flower in the film implies cleaning.

The goodbye scene is about the way he tells his own story. People will accept that revised saying more easily. A man can let go of the traumatic incident after many years. The strength of religion and self-compassion can make a boy recover from the unforgettable affliction. His story is told by his well-written monologue and the acting of Irrfan Khan in an indirect way. The open-mindedness after going through countless disasters. The poem Setting Off Early from Baidi City by the Chinese poet Li Bai says, that the boat has passed through thousands of mountains. It depicts the inner baptism in the bumpy journey slightly. 

To conclude, Pi grows from a weak boy to a life warrior like a spartan. What does not kill you makes you stronger. Most of the people understand that life is not easy. Sometimes, it can be as cruel as life goes. Humans are not unbreakable but the extreme case of Pi shows people that everything will be aligned after the storm.