Dear Friends,
Ah, here we are! The last of the last…THE FINAL film review in the Best Picture nominee series. Let’s talk about Life of Pi. It was released in September, so it’s likely that you have already seen it, but if you haven’t, it’s being shown in theaters around NYC, I assume due to its 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Visual Effects, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Overall, this movie was BRILLIANT. I laughed, and I wept, (if you’ve read any of my other reviews, you’ll know this is not an uncommon event) and there was a point when I wished the movie would end already because I couldn’t handle any more drama or suspense. Yes, friends, it was that good. I’m now not sure who should win Best Picture, because I loved this film as much as I’ve loved any of the films I saw, and I will be in agony until tonight.
Life of Pi is first a novel, written by Yann Martel, and was released in 2001. I remember when the book came out, and I remember everyone talking about it, and I never got around to reading it. When the film came out in September, I refused to see it, and purchased the book on my Kindle, and set out to read it. I made it through the first three pages. This is unlike me, I will assure you. I can get through any book. But something about the interview-style of the opening just didn’t work for me. I wanted to fall in love with the book. And yet, I put it down quite early on, and didn’t pick it back up again. I recalled this as I picked up my 3D glasses, and headed into the theater, and wondered how I would enjoy the film. When it opened in a glorious montage of a menagerie, I knew there would be no translation issues. The film was stunning, and the overly involved narrator I struggled to connect with on paper came to life in this amazing, amazing story of a boy lost at sea. David Magee, who wrote the screenplay, and director Ang Lee knew exactly what they were doing because I was hooked, line and sinker, in the first few lines. This film is visually stunning (notice that other nomination I mentioned) and gloriously acted.
I will not even attempt to write some kind of synopsis, because that would do the book and the film a deep injustice. Know that a boy is lost at sea with a tiger during at least a part of the film. Know also that the acting is profound. I have never been so pained as I was watching the older Piscine, known to everyone as Pi (Irrfan Khan), tell his story. Even though we don’t watch him tell it mostly, but rather we hear him, I don’t think that matters. I can still imagine every emotion that crosses his face. And the 16-year-old Pi (Suraj Sharma) is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. There are no words. I assume that most of his acting was done with other CGI on screen characters, which makes him even more profound than anyone else. That young man put on a one-man show in front of a green screen, most likely, for over an hour, and I couldn’t look away. It was profound. Speaking of CGI, I saw this movie in 3D, and while I don’t normally see anything in 3D so I don’t have much to compare it to, I will say that I don’t think the 3D was entirely necessary. In fact, strange as it may seem, I don’t think this is a film that lends itself well to the 3D format. Nothing really needs to pop off the screen here. If this were a discovery channel film being showed in a museum about nature, then it would make sense. But this film is too deep and heartwarming to need waves seeming as if they crash over the audience, or tigers launching themselves into an unsuspecting viewer. It makes it an entirely different film, with an entirely different purpose, and I don’t think it does the filmmakers justice at all. The 3D also made the CGI very obvious to my eye, which I also think diminished for me the feeling of being “in the story.” Unfortunately, having a 3D option boosts revenue, and for most films it’s not really an option to shoot in 3D anymore, so I’m sure they did the best they could with it.
(**Spoiler alert! Skip this next paragraph if you don’t want to know anything else about the film. In my mind, there is no spoiler, because the magic of the film is in the storytelling, not in knowing how the story goes, but I can see how some would disagree.)
All issues with 3D aside, this film was marvelous. I was blown away by everything I saw. It was breathtaking, and gave me the rare opportunity to contemplate my views on religion. I know it seems random, but when you see the film it will all make sense. There is a portion where, in detailing the Life of the young man, Pi, discusses his conversion to three major religions. We then hear a fantastical story, and then hear it re-told in a different way. And at the end, he asks which story was real. And the narrator, wisely doesn’t choose which one is real but instead focuses on which is a better story. “And so it is with religion,” replies Pi. And when you think back to the three main religions that Pi experienced, you see his parallel, that for him, they are all retellings of the same story, with the same morality built in. I’ll tell you, I was wandering around with all of this bouncing around in my brain for hours after the movie ended. Whether or not you agree with what he said, it’s a fantastic thing to contemplate, and provided me with hours of introspection.
(**End spoiler***)
This is another great film to discuss when talking about adaptations, and it’s a great book for any high school English classroom. I also believe this film could be used in a comparative religion class, and honestly I’d recommend it to everyone for all things, but that’s just me. I’ve already said that I have no idea who is going to win this category, but whether or not Life of Pi takes the cake, it’s still one of the best films I’ve ever seen and I recommend it to everyone.
Live, Love, Learn,