A Visually Stunning Tale of One Boy's Faith

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2013)

Once I watched this movie, it was impossible to shake from my mind for almost three days after. Each time I've watched it, it's left me in awe. LIFE OF PI is a beautiful film with a magnificent story to tell. From Ang Lee (director of HULKthe one with the gamma poodle yeah, I went there), LIFE OF PI is based on a novel from Yann Martel that, admittedly, I've never read. It is, without a doubt, one of the most (if not, THE most) visually stunning movie of 2013 and the story is one that just stirs around in your head, leaving you to think back on what you've watched and question everything about it. The premise of the story is what originally hooked my attention: a young Indian boy is adrift at sea, trapped aboard a life boat with a Bengal tiger. More specifically, the boy is Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) and he was raised in India with his family in their zoo. When times become tough and the zoo must close, his family loads the animals aboard a freighter and they set off for Canada. A storm leaves Pi alone on the Pacific Ocean, a lone survivor from a shipwreck, with an injured zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a tiger along for the ride. LIFE OF PI is a tale of faith and survival that might, as an adult Pi describes as he recounts his tale to an interested author, "make you believe in God." Ultimate belief in a deity is not guaranteed, but an incredible story with mind-blowing effects is.
So, for a little context from this commenter, I am not religious or spiritual in any real sense. You don't necessarily need to be in order to enjoy this movie. This is not a movie to preach religious faith or drive home points about how belief in God is important or whatever. This is one man's account of a life-changing event in his life and how (and more importantly why) it strengthened his belief in God. The character of Pi Patel is more than your average Hindu. He's Hindu, Christian, and Muslim with a possible bit of Jewish mixed in. He's a boy who loves God in all his forms and his faith will be put to the test over the course of this two-hour film as he is trapped in the middle of the largest ocean in a lifeboat with a tiger. As if survival isn't difficult enough when you're trapped thousands of miles from anywhere with limited food and clean water, but a hungry carnivorous cat tends to exacerbate problems. Pi will face hunger, weather, and his fellow passengers in his long quest across the ocean while maintaining his faith that his God (of many faces) is watching over him. And in the end, when Pi returns to society and gives us (and two Japanese insurance adjustors) a second version of his tale, we are introduced to a new understanding behind faith in a higher power and what leads people into it. As a firmly non-religious person, I actually thought it was one of the most enlightening descriptions of religious faith I've heard. And it's all done without being preachy.
LIFE OF PI is, as you've probably heard just about any time the movie is discussed, an amazing visual feast. I don't like to use the term because I think it comes across as corny, but I'll make a rare exception for LIFE OF PI: it is stunning. Ang Lee, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, and the visual effects team have created a gorgeous film. It's not often you see a movie of this caliber anymore. LIFE OF PI is a prime example of film as art, as opposed to summer blockbusters or cash-grab sequels. The visual effects in this movie are superb but you might not think so when watching it. It wasn't until after I'd seen the movie twice that I discover that the majority of scenes with Richard Parker, the tiger, are a CG animal. In fact, most of the animals in the film are CG. That blew my mind. Not once over the course of the movie did I question whether the animals I was watching were real. In a time when I can go to your average summer film and count the CG elements, it is great that there are movies that incorporate such subtlety that you might never question what you're watching.
On a related note, I am one that would argue that the Academy Award LIFE OF PI won for cinematography was undeserved because so much of the movie was done as visual effects. As beautiful as this movie was, there were others in 2012 more deserving of the recognition for their work with physical lighting and camera-work.