The Life of Pi Patel.

Rating: 10/10 (4 January 2013)

Having been introduced to Ang Lee with his magical 2000 film Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon,which was also my first ever none-English language movie,I was thrilled to hear that for his next movie,Lee was planning to do something pretty special in 3D.
Taking a look for some basic details about the film online,I began to fear that Lee may have strayed into the plodding Castaway territory,due to a good amount of the movie taking place between two characters being stranded in the middle of an ocean.Doing my best to lower the sense of doubt I had as I entered the cinema,I began to set to witness Ang Lee cast the life of Pi Patel in shimmering 3D across the screen.
The plot:
Getting introduced to a local writer by a relative,Pi Patel is told by the writer,that the small amount of info his relative has shaded with the him,has made him think that the life of Patel would make a classic novel.Accepting the writer's offer,Pi begins to tell him about his extraordinary,strange life.
Decades earlier:
Despite having been forced by his dad (Santosh Patel) to witness a tiger kill a goat a few years ago,a 16 year old Pi Patel (who changed his name from Piscine Molitor whilst at school) still feels a strong connection to the animals that his family keep in their zoo,with a tiger called Richard Parker being an animal that Pi has a particularly strong connection with.
Feeling that greater opportunity is being offered in Canada and North America,Santosh decides to close down the zoo,and take all of the family on a ship to Canada,with the animals also being taken,so that they can be sold off when the family reach their new destination.
Walking around the ship's deck,Pi notices in the distance that a powerful storm seems to be heading in the ships direction.Shocked by the appearance of the storm,Pi is caught completely by surprise,when the storm hits the ship with a number of knock out blows.During the ensuring chaos,a crew member puts Pi into a lifeboat,that he releases before the rest of Pi's family have a chance of reaching any of the lifeboats.
Being unable to do nothing but witness his family die with the rest of the passengers as the ship starts to sink,Pi soon discovers that he is not the only occupant of the life boat,when a cover on half of the life boat by a group of animals that were originally from the Patel's zoo,which includes the rather hungry tiger Richard Parker.
View on the film:
Introduceing a religious element very early on in his adaptation of Yann Martel's novel, (with Patel being a Hindu-Catholic,who also teaches Kabbalah at a university)screenwriter David Magee (whose last credit was for being a co-writer of 2008's Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day) handles the religious themes of the story with a real delicacy that never becomes overpowering or too preachy.
Using Pi's multiple religious beliefs as a way to show a holding of faith and hope in a seemingly dyer situation,and also connecting Patel's experience's to mythological religious tales,with Magee superbly showing at the end,that the most outlandish of Pi's story,is actually the one which gets the points of his life across in the best way.
Setting 90% of the film in the confined location of a life boat,and also having one of the two main characters be a tiger (!),Magee brilliantly avoids the easy trappings of the movie becoming a very dry affair,by using the changing conditions of the enviorment as a way to expertly show the rites of passage that Pi is going through.along with the conditions,Magee also gives the movie an unexpected,pleasing Comedy element which helps to show the bond which develops between Patel and Richard Parker.
Keeping away from using 3D as a device to poke the audience in the eye with,director Ang Lee instead uses 3D as a way to draw the audience deep into Pi's world,with the scenes of Richard Parker possibly "turning" on Pi having a real dept of field,and Lee's use of elegant,long wide shots creating a strong,mystical atmosphere for the isolated world that Patel finds himself in.
Taking a look online for info about the making of this stunning film,I was shocked to discover,that along with the film being lead by the debut actor Suraj Sharma as the 16 year old Patel (with Irrfan Khan giving a great performance as the adult Pi) Sharma co-star,the tiger Richard Parker,was almost completely CGI!
Displaying no signs at all of tearing the movie at the seems,the CGI effects of Richard Parker blend seamlessly into the envioment,with the interaction,and developing relationship between Pi and Parker looking astonishingly life-like and completely photo realistic. Getting some pretty tough challenges put in front of him,which include being the lead star in his debut performance,and also having to act with a co-star who does not exist,Suraj Sharma gives a brilliant,eye-catching debut performance as the 16 year old PI .
Showing the fear and hurt that Pi feels over seeing his parents die,Sharma expertly portrays in subtle gestures the changes that take place with Pi during his experience,that go from being closed in and fearing the unknown,to opening up,and allowing the viewer to be a part of the life of Pi Patel.