"Faith is a house with many rooms."

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2017)

What amazes me about director Ang Lee is the totally disparate types of films that he puts together. One wonders how "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Hulk", "Brokeback Mountain" and this movie all come from the same creative mind. I just find it fascinating.
Of those other films mentioned, this is one that comes closest to resembling a spiritual journey for the principal character. Told at first as an allegory, and later contrasted with the 'true' story of what happened when the young Pi (Suraj Sharma) survived a shipwreck ordeal, this appears to be Lee's take on a search for God and for the meaning of existence. I didn't find the adult Pi's (Irrfan Khan) challenge to the writer (Rafe Spall) about the proof of God's existence as being definitive, and I don't think that's what one's take on the picture ought to be.
I think what the story should reaffirm in anyone watching it is that one has to meet life's challenges as they occur with a sole reliance on one's ability to think things through, form a plan, and execute it to the best of one's ability. What Pi had to endure on the open ocean was nothing short of an impossible situation, yet he made the most of it by using his own wits and the available resources he had. That he had to overcome the challenge of a vicious adversary in the tiger, forced Pi to consider his options, none of which included the easy way out of simply giving up.
The CGI and special effects in the picture are extraordinary, as evidenced by awards won for Cinematography and Visual Effects at the 2013 Oscars. For his effort, Ang Lee also took home a Best Director. It's on the strength of this and other films by Lee that I seek out his work whenever a new picture comes out that he's directed. Whether you like them or not, he always delivers a compelling movie that makes you think when it's over, and that for me is always a good thing.