Life of Pi-Movie review

Life of Pi

Movie review of 'Life of Pi' :

Ang Lee's movie adaptation of Yann Martel's novel, "Life of Pi," is a very tremendously ambitious and stunningly beautiful movie. The plot is about a young man stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker after the cargo ship carrying Pi's family and their zoo animals sinks.

Ang Lee does a fantastic job in telling Pi's life in three stages: childhood, teenage life and adult. Pi's adult stage is quite emotional. The visuals are stunning and enhance the storytelling superbly. The digital rendering of animals and Richard Parker the Bengal Tiger is beautiful to behold. The CGI animals look so clean and almost look like real life animals. The night sequences are over the top and very beautiful. The spiritual context is so rich that the movie compels multiple viewing.

This movie will take you into an unexpected journey of survival where a young boy is trapped on a boat in a vast ocean along with the notorious beast (Tiger) aka Richard Parker where both have to struggle the way they never did to remain alive in such traumatic situations . Most important factor is that this struggle made an unlikely amicable relationship between both until the moment they got separated .

This movie makes a strong impression of awesome cinematic skills which captures our senses. The director has done an outstanding remarkable job. He created an unimaginable atmosphere in the movie which will remain as a strong imperishable memory in the audience's mind . It will give quite a feeling like the great masterpiece  " Cast Away " where tom hanks has given his career best unforgettable performance . I would like to recommend "Life of Pi" to everyone who must witness how charismatic and magical cinematic brilliance is. When you have a highly talented filmmaker it will result in something unforgettable . Watching it in the cinema is like a once in a lifetime experience don't miss this great cinematic work.

The acting by Suraj Sharma is excellent. If not for him, the film wouldn't have felt so believable. Irrfan Khan is very good and gives a very subtle performance communicating through his eyes. Tabu and Adil Hussain had small roles but they did justice to those characters. Another hero that shines in the film is the brilliantly done CGI(Computer Generated Imagery). The CGI of the tiger alongside other animals and of the ocean among several other things cannot be praised enough. Without it, the film would have failed miserably. But Ang Lee and his visual effects team made sure that it wasn't the case and put their heart and soul to make it as realistic and deceiving to untrained eyes as possible and they succeeded in every turn of the way. A tremendous job indeed. 

The animators did a very excellent job of bringing Richard Parker to life and making the tiger be an active and vital character. The relationship between Pi and Richard Parker is presented perfectly.

The graphics, photography and colours are very awesome. Some of the most memorable scenes are the whale leaping out of the ocean and splashing back into sea, seeing the exotic fish and phytoplankton underwater, and the island when it turned carnivorous at night. The story is magical and mysterious. "Life of Pi" is truly a groundbreaking movie masterpiece and a beautiful work of art ever made. Ang Lee has created a cinema masterpiece that will long be a very-memorable film due to the breathtaking cinematography and beautiful scenery.

There was a certain rhythm to the movement of the animals and the endless beauty of nature itself and it was just a bliss to watch. The ending gave that final punch that the film needed.

This version is a good version of the movie adaptation. 

Significance of ' Tiger ' :

a young boy lives on the sea with a tiger that weighs 450 pounds for 227 days on a 26 feet long lifeboat. In another version of the story, pi seems to be symbolised by Richard Parker. They have so many similarities. The tiger in life symbolises pi because they both have the desire for survival, pi doesn’t want to face himself in the experience on the sea just like Richard Parker go into the jungle without looking back, and pi abandons his beliefs which corresponds to animal instinct. Richard Parker symbolism pi because they have similar personalities such as the desire for survival. Pi almost dies on the sea because of lack of food. He has nothing to eat even the fish. The hunger makes him lose his mind.

The tiger, Richard Parker, is a metaphor for fear. It represents death, desolation, grief, and ultimately the growing animal instinct in Pi. It brings to life the haunt of living alone on a ship, being stranded on an island, losing connection with all and most importantly, facing yourself. When Pi gains control over the tiger, he conquers fear. When he develops attachment to Richard Parker, he comes closer to himself.And finally, when the tiger leaves him, Pi understands the transient nature of life. So the tiger represents life, fear and death.

Difference between Spirituality and Religion : Click here for another blog

Significance of ' Island ' :

Many books and films that feature islands also tell the stories of those trying to escape them and oftentimes the island can have both a positive and negative symbolism. Because it has such broad interpretation, it is a popular trope in storytelling.

This is evident, for example, in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe or the Tom Hanks film it inspired almost three centuries later, Cast Away.

In such stories, the island is a symbol of what the main character has lost – contact with the outside world, the relationships with loved ones, and even the sense of belonging.

However, it has been established that the trees on the island do not solely give life, but they can also claim life, which means that they can kill as well. During the day, the trees breathe life into wanderers, but at night, a chemical process turns the water irrigating them into acid, and makes them carnivorous. As such, “all that the island gave by day, it took away again by night”. An oasis that is turned out to be a dangerous beauty, a wolf in sheep’s clothing if you will. This danger is not something Pi is going to live with, saying:

'I preferred to set off and perish in search of my own kind than to live a lonely half-life of physical comfort and spiritual death on this murderous island.'

All religions offer shelter and food to their followers. That’s exactly what the island did for Pi. He ate pounds of algae every day, and occasionally meerkats; he slept in a tree, and for the first time since the start of his endeavour, he felt safe. That is, he felt safe until he discovered the truth.

If much of the story symbolises someone finding his/her way through the journey of life, then perhaps the island symbolises the idea of settling for something seemingly good when there is something much better...but the price to get that better thing is high, full of hard work, and saturated with fear/doubt. On the surface (no pun intended) it may seem that the island is a good thing, full of food, water, and shelter. However we all know the disgusting truth. I think that our lives can easily slip into that pattern of settling for something seemingly good when it can turn out to be our downfall.

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