A story about lying

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2012)

At the end of Life of Pi, the talented liar Pi asks the visiting Writer to choose between his two stories -- one a short brutal story of human cruelty and desperation, and the other a long romantic story of bonding with a dangerous animal. (Despite Pi's stated claims, gods actually don't play any part in the long story).
Nobody proposes that the Writer (or audience) should reject both of Pi's stories, even though that's good advice.
The Writer of course chooses the more detailed and uplifting romantic story. It saves him from having to come up with it himself. Presumably, this is the manner in which the Writer is convinced to "believe in (some) god" although that's never said directly. In any case, his goal is to sell books, not to seek truth. It's not hard to guess which story is going to sell, and real life is in the process of confirming it.
But the audience eventually wants the truth. We're clearly to assume that one of the stories is true (within the context of the film). Pi insists both stories are possible, suggesting we can freely choose equally. But that's not quite correct. Probabilities must be weighed. I buy the tiger story, up to a point (although perhaps I shouldn't... remember the scorpion and frog story from The Crying Game: "it's in my nature"). But for me, probability ends at the "carnivorous island". It's extremely unlikely that there would be an undetectable island literally covered with fish-eating meerkats, who act indifferently to being eaten themselves, as depicted in the film. I'm more likely to believe in a mentally ill, bigoted ship's cook who takes advantage of a crisis to torture and kill. There is plenty of reason to believe that story over the other. It happens all the time on land.
Somewhere between the two probabilities, it's also possible that the liar Pi survived at sea alone, and didn't just make up one bold lie, but two. But that would be a dull story, and Pi is clearly not one to tolerate boredom and dullness.
The Japanese men appeared to accept the brutal story, but we're never told whether they transmitted that story to others. What of the families of the men claimed to be on the lifeboat? This story would have been an outrage, with possible legal consequences.
Pi's story, because he so easily bears false witness, is unmoving, and I wasn't made into a believer by watching this film. If anything, it all fits comfortably with my unbelief. The film concludes in such a way as to demonstrate that these fanciful and sometimes pretty stories are there to hide darker ones, or more boring ones, and also to cast those who doubt them as somehow being suspect of supporting bad outcomes. We know this is how religion works, but it's nice to see it spelled out so clearly on the big screen.
As for the film itself, it's quite an achievement in animation mixed with live action, and 3D cinematography. I'll have to see what The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey does with high-frame rate, but Life of Pi should certainly be up for some significant awards in that area. (Yet, truly James Cameron is still the undefeated master of sinking a ship, and creating marvels that glow in the darkness.)
Last, I also just saw Kumaré, which I recommend as a good double-feature with this film.