Adult Pi Patel: Irrfan Khan
Pi Patel (11 years): Ayush Tandon
Pi Patel (5 years): Gautam Belur
Santosh Patel: Adil Hussain
Gita Patel: Tabu
Writer: Rafe Spall
Cook: Gérard Depardieu
Fox 2000 Pictures presents a
film directed by Ang Lee. Written by David Magee. Based on the novel by Yann
Martel. Running time: 127 min. Rated PG (for emotional thematic content
throughout, and some scary action sequences and peril).
You may have gathered from
the promotional materials for the new movie “Life of Pi” that much of the film’s
action involves a boy surviving on a life raft with a Bengal Tiger. The boy is
the Pi of the title. His name makes for an interesting story. The tiger’s name
is more cumbersome. The tiger’s name is Richard Parker, which is explained in
another interesting story, but it doesn’t seem like a name that will take once
you’re aware of it. By the point that the boy cradles that large beast’s head
in his lap as he realizes the tiger is dying of starvation and thirst, the
tiger’s name is Richard Parker even to us and could be nothing else.
That is the power of the film;
it’s ability to invest you not only in the character of Pi, but also that of
Richard Parker, who is all tiger, as opposed to some movie animal that is
humanized by a contrived story situation that imbues him with the
characteristics of a person. Richard Parker is a great threat to Pi. Parker is
a killer, as Pi learns early in the film as a precocious 11-year old. Pi’s
father runs a zoo in India. When the Zoo first acquires Parker, Pi gets it in
his head that he wants to see the animal up close and dangles a piece of meat
into his pen. He might’ve lost his arm had his brother not informed his father
of the incident. Pi’s father illustrates in a graphic lesson for his son that
Parker is an animal with an instinct to kill and no understanding that people
are anything but meat. Pi prefers to think that even animals have souls.
Director Ang Lee’s beautiful
film is surprisingly deep for a story that can speak to such a wide range of
ages. It is told in flashback as a writer seeks out a middle aged Pi who now
resides as a college professor in Canada. The writer has been told that Pi’s
story will make him believe in God. As a child, Pi finds an unusual
relationship with God, as he feels every religion he comes upon is God’s own
personal introduction to him. He is born into Hinduism. He also becomes a
Christian and a Muslim. His journey with the tiger gives him a very unique
understanding of God. I think the movie gets God just about right, and may
allow the idea of so many different religions all claiming to know God make
more sense for an inquisitive child.
Lee’s direction and
cinematographer Claudio Miranda’s photography is exquisitely beautiful. Shot in
3D, this is one of the few films presented in that format that truly benefits
from it. Even the opening passages, which aren’t as dependent on the three
dimensions as the central developments, are so gorgeous that you could just
watch these frames in utter fascination of the details. The camera contemplates
the beauty of the animals in the zoo during the opening credits. The splendor
of the Indian setting and culture are explored with a visual consideration that
is usually reserved for documentary filmmaking. Then there is the spectacular
shipwreck and the stunning sequences adrift at sea.
The parallels between this
movie and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 production “The Black Stallion” are
impossible to ignore. Both are great films for kids that don’t fall into the
formulas of kids’ movies. They both tell a tale of mutual survival between a
child and a wild animal. The stakes are raised a little higher with this film
considering the situation of having to survive at sea in a very confined space
with an animal that would just as soon eat you for its own survival. I remember
being enthralled by “The Black Stallion” when I was a child. This film, despite
a dialogue driven opening act, enthralled my own boys. I think the set up
fascinated them as much as the adventure.
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