To live is to think

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2013)

The latest Ang Lee movie, "Life of Pi", is an adaptation of a beautiful prize-winning novel of the same name written by Yann Martel. For a long time the novel was considered to be unfilmable so Lee's work was awaited with reserve, but only to thrill almost everyone upon its release.
"Life of Pi" is a story of Piscine Molitor Patel, or Pi as he renamed himself. Pi grew up in Pondicherry, a little town in India, where his father ran a zoo. He was a curious boy who looked for answers beyond his father's scientific approach and embraced Hindu, Christian and Muslim religions along the way. The life was sweet in Pondicherry but unfortunately, due to financial difficulties, Pi's father had to close the zoo and the family prepared to move to Canada. They were traveling on the same boat as their animals from the zoo which were sold to western buyers when a great storm hit them. After the storm came down Pi found himself as the only human survivor, in a lifeboat with zebra, hyena, orangutan and a tiger named Richard Parker. There began his true search for God, meaning and the limits of human strength.
For a movie most of the time containing only one boy and a tiger to succeed, those two really had to be something special. Suraj Sharma, who plays Pi, is a newcomer. A risky choice for a role so important and complex, but one that enables us to focus on the character without the distraction of a familiar face. Considering his inexperience, Sharma has done a very good job with just a few unconvincing moments. The tiger on the other hand remained flawless. It's mostly CGI with only a few scenes containing a real animal, but the CGI is incredibly lifelike and among the best I've ever seen. It gives so much depth to the tiger, making it a rounded character completely deserving of a full name.
The movie was filmed in 3D which is an unusual choice for a serious drama but Lee and cinematographer Claudio Miranda made it an indispensable part of the completed work. The cinematography is mesmerizing and its effects are greatly helped by the 3D which feels so natural you simply enjoy it without even being aware it's there. The beauty of the images emphasizes the meditative nature of the story, its plot serving only as the ground for spiritual ideas to grow.
The message of the movie can be interpreted in different ways. Some will say it is a religious one, but it can also be said to deny the existence of any kind of god. There's also the message about the importance of stories. The way we pick them, digest them, and the impact they have on us. Nevertheless, it's not the precise meaning Martel or Lee had in mind what's most important, but the one every person finds for oneself, for "Life of Pi" is one of those rare movies which are not complete without someone watching them. Therefore it has as many interpretations of the story as there are those who watched it. In that way it does two of the most important things every piece of art should do, it makes you think and it makes you discuss it. If for nothing else, it should be seen because of that.
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