Wonderful Fantasy of Survival, Despair, and Faith

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2013)

"Life of Pi" is further evidence that Ang Lee is a filmmaker who favors craft over money. From the wondrous visuals to the meaty storytelling, Life of Pi takes appreciative audiences on a journey of curiosity, despair and faith.
Many called "Life of Pi" an "unfilmable" book due to it's literary complexity. Ang Lee himself was weary while filming this, but much like he did with Brokeback Mountain's controversial plot line in 2005, he took risks and succeeded.
The film opens with Pi Patel as an adult (played by Irrfan Kahn from The Amazing Spiderman) reminiscing about his childhood with an author (played by Rafe Spall from Prometheus). The audience is first treated to several shots of colorful, strange animals living at a zoo during the opening credits. This emphasizes how Pi's childhood was filled with wonder and curiosity in religion and how he saw the world as magical.
Pi spends most of his childhood exploring different religions. He is fascinated by all of them, and yet he cannot chose one. He is wondered by the stories of Krishna and Ganesha in Hinduism, he admires the sacrifices Jesus made in Chatholisism, and he appreciates the themes of togetherness and meditation in the Muslim religion.
However, Pi's father is much more skeptical. He is a polio survivor who feels like he was saved by medicine, not God when he was ill. Therefore, he reminds Pi that he must value logistics and skepticism over religious stories and faiths in order to be more intelligent. Pi's father's lessons in logic become the most clear when he scolds Pi for trying to feed the tiger because as Pi puts it, "All living things have souls." In order to teach his son that animals are savage and soulless, he forces Pi to watch a live goat being murdered by the tiger.
This theme of skepticism vs. faith is perhaps the most important theme in the film, as it is an important tool when it comes to interpreting the story. Throughout the film, Pi encounters many wondrous sights and questions God's motives when he is eventually shipwrecked and separated from his family.
Deciding that they need to sell their zoo and gain more financial support, Pi's family decides to move to Canada with their zoo animals and possibly open a new zoo. However, on the way there, they are shipwrecked and only Pi, a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger survive the wreck and make it to a lifeboat.
(SMALL SPOILER AHEAD)
The hyena, zebra and orangutan die from various causes, and Pi is left with only the tiger (named Richard Parker) for company. The film then focuses on Pi's attempts to tame Richard Parker.
The rest of the film is a fascinating and wonderfully deep story woven with much craft by David Magee (who previously wrote the 2004 film, Finding Neverland). The dialogue is smart and despite mostly taking place on a lifeboat, the film is never boring and always throws in something to grab the audience's interest.
Newcomer Suraj Sharma plays the role of Pi with conviction and true feeling. It is clear that he and Ang Lee made an excellent team, and his dedication to the role is more than commendable. Here's hoping they collaborate on future projects. It's a shame his performance did not get much attention from the various awards shows, but it is certainly one to remember.
I am certainly grateful that the claims of "Life of Pi" being "unfilmable" did not deter Ang Lee from bringing this masterpiece to the screen. As a fantasy film, it soars, as a story of religion, it succeeds, and as a film, it is beyond praise. It is an absolute must see.