"What Hurts the Most Is Not Being Able to Say Goodbye"

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2012)

It is a rare opportunity to see a film in which every frame evokes miraculous imagery. So it is with Life of Pi: Director Ang Lee translated the bestselling novel by Yann Martel into one of the most visually arresting cinematic events of this year. Like a fever dream that occasionally transforms into a nightmare, before delivering you back into a state of nirvana, Life of Pi is at its best breathtaking, but also looms with a mysterious energy prepared to pounce when you become comfortable.
The story of Piscine "Pi" Patel (Suraj Sharma) unfolds through the narration of the elder Pi, who recounts his story for the benefit of a writer, in search of a story that will "make him believe in God." It is unlikely that Pi's engrossing story will have any effect on your religious inclinations, but it will certainly entertain. Pi's life is completely upended when a cargo ship carrying Pi and his family, as well as numerous animals from their zoo, is lost at sea. Being the sole human survivor, Pi is forced to contend with a troop of animals that also managed to seek refuge on his lifeboat. As the days pass, the group of four animals is cut down to a single animal: an adult Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The two survivors are faced with serious challenges on their journey across the ocean, and none is more terrifying than the close proximity they share. What develops is a volatile relationship that ultimately saves Pi's life.
The entire weight of Life of Pi is balanced on newcomer Suraj Sharma's back. The true beauty of this film may be its cinematography, but considering how much of this movie focuses on a solitary human in a boat with a tiger, casting a weak actor in the role of Pi would have been as disastrous as flinging acetone on a painting. The range of emotions conveyed by Sharma makes it difficult to believe that he earned this role accidentally (He only attending the casting call to support his brother's audition, and ended up winning the role out of 3,000 actors.), and has no previous acting credits. If Life of Pi is any indication of what Sharma is capable of, we shall be seeing a great deal of this talented young man in the coming years.
Life of Pi is substantial achievement in storytelling. The film covers a variety of topics: spirituality, mortality, maturity, death, and survival. The film is incredibly dense, and having little knowledge of the novel beforehand, I was not prepared for how intense a film this would be. The quality of trailers shown before the movie seemed to indicate that many might treat Pi as a children's film; it is most certainly not. While a story of a young man on a boat with a tiger might sound like the beginning of a children's fable, the substance of this film would be difficult for a child to stomach.
Ang Lee has proved himself a master of stylized film and Life of Pi is possibly his most visually stunning motion picture to date. Life of Pi illustrates the ability of a story to captivate our imaginations, and attests to the wonderment of storytelling.
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