second story is the truth, while first is your belief in God

Rating: 10/10 (25 November 2012)

First all, everything is only my personal point of view and I just try to interpret this movie in my way because it really fascinated me during the 127 minutes and afterward. I am from the Orient and I think I can understand what Ang Lee, one of the greatest directors, is indicating behind those spectacular scenes.
From the very beginning until almost the end, we were watching the first story. The only survivor of a shipwreck, Pi, made it after more than 200 days floating on sea, with the accompany of a tiger, Richard Parker. They fought and cooperated. It was a unbelievable journey and Pi went through a lot changes and transformation. Being a vegetarian, he had to catch and kill fish to feed both Richard Parker and himself. He was both sorry and thankful. He was on a no-one-know-it island where daytime was a heaven but nighttime was the hell. Shining whale brought away his food and another storm almost killed him. Anyway, he made it and survived and was saved finally.
Almost everyone has focused on the first story, especially the amazing and mind-blowing special effects and visualizations. And some even complained about the story line and long opening before they boarded the ship. I was one of them until the very end, when in face of Japanese investigators, Pi told the second story. In this, the chef, the sailor, Pi's mother and himself. The chef ate the sailor and killed Pi's mother, which stimulated Pi and led to Pi killing the chef. Every animal has its meaning in the second story. The Zebra is the sailor, being eaten by the jackal representative of the chef, who also killed the ape symbolizing Pi's mother. The tiger, actually is Pi himself. It was what is inside Pi, also every human being, that without reasoning we are nothing but beasts. In the storm, Pi put himself against it while Richard was so scared. Storm is kind of like test from God or God himself. Our inside breasts are afraid of such tests and failed to confront it. What makes us human being diff from beasts is our belief in God and more generally human reasoning.
In the end, both the writer and the Japaneses investigators chose the first story with the tiger. But what is your choice?