Review: Life of Pi

Review: Life of Pi

Going in to a film completely blind (metaphorically of course!) is the best way to gain a thrilling cinema experience, but with the trend of book-to-film adaptations ever increasing, it's hard to have the delight of finding a good film by surprise. As an avid reader I find it difficult watching the film after reading the book, as they often face difficulty living up to the expectations set beforehand.

 

'Life of Pi'; The highly acclaimed book by Yann Martel, is a captivating story of survival when a young boy, Pi (Suraj Sharma) is thrown in at the deep end after surviving a thunderstorm on a ship to Canada. Thrown aboard a lifeboat in the darkness of the night, he finds himself accompanied by a bunch of animals from his fathers zoo, which were accompanying them on the trip. He ends up spending his time cast away with one other survivor; a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. They build a comradeship between them while depending on each other for survival from the surroundings which could easily diminish them.

It had been dubbed an 'impossible' task to convey this story on screen, as director, Ang Lee, took it under his wings and worked his magic. The man who brought us well-known titles like 'Brokeback Mountain' (2005) and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' (2000), is already on the nominations list for a BAFTA, for his work on Life of Pi, and rightly so.

Lee married breath taking visuals (especially in 3D) with a beautiful narrative, as you find yourself ooh-ing and aah-ing from the opening credits. The story is heavily backdropped by a narration from an elder Pi (Irrfan Khan, you may recognise him from Slumdog Millionaire.) which helps to fill in the gaps for viewers who haven't read the book and possibly even helps the film make sense. Sharma's acting is brilliant and he has the ability to infuse emotion in to his performance, helping the audience connect with his character. I often find it difficult to take the Indian accent seriously, being from an Indian background myself I have grown up using it for humour, yet Sharma's emotion felt so real it just hits you. 

 

I really liked how one particular tear-jerking scene was followed by humour, which seemed as though the narrative wasn't dwelling on the negatives, a bit like the character who stays positive, constantly living in hope of reaching land soon.

The visual pyrotechnics of the tiger were to such a standard, that I was constantly trying to figure out whether it was real all the way through the film. It may seem idiotic to even think they'd use a real tiger for it would be costly and dangerous, but it was very realistic, and unbelievably so.

I think most people who don't like the film will probably complain about the ending, which can be hard to understand. The ending involves the audiences own interpretations of the story, and I love how we can choose to create a subjective link to what we see. I have read many explanations of the ending on the internet and because there is no right or wrong answer, it's amazing to see how different minds have tried to make sense of the story.

Overall the story was charming and really made me question the meaning of life. We take for granted all the luxuries we have in our life, but at the same time, do we really need them? The simplistic life Pi lead on his voyage living only to survive, shows that the luxuries we crave to make our lives easier, could really be what makes life harder for us. That said, companionship too is part of survival. This is why he depended on Richard Parker's company so much, because in life everyone needs a friend.

I would recommend this film to anyone, even if you think you won't like it you might be pleasantly surprised. I, myself have already ordered the book and will be making another trip to the cinema to watch it with my mum.

Star Rating: *****