Long thought to be unfilmable – a term which is becoming increasingly tedious – Yann Martel’s 2001 novel Life of Pi proves to be one of most entertaining, rewarding and magical films of the year. Touching on the importance of faith, the dangers of nature and the essence of storytelling, director Ang Lee tells a complex and ultimately dark fable through a vibrant and visually stunning castaway adventure.
The film is book ended by a conversation between a blocked novelist (Rafe Spall) and the elder Pi (Irrfan Khan) in his Canadian home. After hearing that Pi has not only a story that will cure his writer’s block but a story that will make him believe in God, he has to hear it and Pi duly obliges, taking the author and the audience on an incredible journey.
Pi’s story starts in Pondicherry, a French part of India where Pi – changing his name from Piscine after schoolyard taunts – and his family run one of the world’s most impressive zoos. Right away, Lee’s visuals pop off the screen, so much so that when Pi calls Pondicherry one of the most beautiful places on Earth, it’s hard to disagree. These early scenes chart Pi’s childhood and into his teens, showing his experience with animals and nature as well as his tremendous amount of faith, not just in his inherited Hinduism but also Catholicism and Islam too, much to the chagrin of his secular father.
The inclusion of so much religious material might put a lot of people off the film but it is handled remarkably well, never coming across as preachy and in fact never promoting one specific religion but rather the idea of faith and it’s importance in the lives of many. Though it may not be as obvious throughout the middle act of the film, man’s acceptance of faith is really the central theme here and comes to the forefront in a huge way by the film’s end.
Due to some financial difficulties, Pi’s father is selling the land and uprooting his family to move to Canada and sell all the animals to buyers in the US. On the way, a massive storm causes a monumental shipwreck that leaves Pi, the only survivor, stranded on a lifeboat with an orang-utan, an injured zebra, a hungry hyena and a fully grown Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It’s no spoiler to reveal that the other animals don’t last long once Richard Parker gets hungry so the remainder of the story depicts how Pi battles the elements, starvation and a hungry tiger for 227 days.
In other hands, the thought of a teenager stranded at sea for the majority of the film could have been a dull slog but thanks to a fantastic performance by newcomer Suraj Sharma and virtuoso direction and visuals from Lee and his cinematographer Claudio Miranda, this is probably the most visually arresting stretch of film all year. Lee fills his canvas with some gorgeous, dreamlike imagery – from dazzling visions of the night sky reflecting in the ocean to an earthy island covered in meerkats, every shot is immaculately rendered in flawless CGI.
Richard Parker in particular is a triumph of the medium. A mix of four real tigers and a load of CGI work, after some ropey movement early in the film, he never looks any less than perfect, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact he spends chunks of the film soaking wet.
If there’s a flaw to the film, it lies in its lack of subtlety and some overly earnest dialogue that’s often far too direct. The book end scenes feature some real clunkers, particularly after the gut-punch ending as Spall’s author lays out everything to make really, really sure we understood what happened.
However, Life of Pi rises above its occasionally cheesy, life affirming dialogue to emerge as a striking and deeply thoughtful piece of filmmaking from one of the underappreciated talents of his generation. Lee has taken something that could’ve gone wrong in so many ways and delivered a magical film, even using 3D in inventive and impressive ways. Life of Pi is a stunning film that will play to adults as a thought-provoking comment on the place religion has in our society and to children as a bright and vibrant adventure story. A truly great film that can be appreciated by all.
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