LIFE OF PI

US, 2012, 128 minutes, Colouor.
Shamar Saraj, Irfan Kahn, Rafe Spall, Gerard Depardieu.
Directed by Ang Lee

Perhaps, if you have not read Yann Martel’s Booker Prizewinning novel, you may be wondering why Pi?

In fact, Pi does explain it to a visiting novelist to his home in Montreal quite early in the film, with some entertaining flashback to Paris and, especially, to his childhood in Pondicherry where his parents manage a zoo. His uncle liked to swim and especially admired the Piscine Mollitor in Paris. His father was also impressed and gave his younger son the name Piscine Mollitor Patel. If you are anglicising the name rather than trying to use a French pronunciation, you will hear what cheeky young boys will make of it. Pi, after some torment by laughter, takes a day to explain why his name is Pi and goes from subject to subject class, finishing with Maths, where he explains Pi and its 3.14… status.

Having cleared that up, we find the film is about much more. Pi is an enquiring lad, eager to get close to the Bengal Tiger his father has brought into the zoo, pondering his Hindu heritage and the many gods, visiting a Catholic church and asking the priest to explain Jesus’ motives and God’s for the crucifixion, developing an admiration of Jesus. Later he enquires about Islam, prays and is introduced to Allah. The screenplay balances these searchings nicely and introduces quite a bit of God language, meaning in life, especially in times of distress and disaster, an acceptance that there is a provident God.

The trailers highlight Pi’s time adrift in the Pacific after his parents decide to move to Canada, with the animals. A storm strikes. The ship sinks and Pi falls overboard with some of the animals.

By this stage, after the fine performance of as the young Pi, we accept Shamar Saraj as the teenage Pi. We also accept his company for the over 200 days on the lifeboat and the raft. On the one hand, the film shows the magic of ocean life, phosphorescent life forms, dolphins and a stampede of flying fish. On the other, it is realistic about the hardships, especially with the tiger, who was registered in his owner’s name instead of his own, and is called Richard Parker (which sounds polite and quaint with the Indian accent). It is no easy survival, even though there are some stocks in the lifeboat. Three other animals die. Richard Parker is aggressive but, as Pi tames him, they reach an agreed co-existence and a friendship grows – which is rueful for Pi when eventually they land on a tropical island full of meerkats, sustenance by day and destruction by night.

The film is wonderfully shot (and shines in the 3D version), beautiful to look at, both India and Pondicherry as well as the Pacific Ocean, both turbulent and calm. There is a lot of charm (even despite a momentary cameo by Gerard Depardieu as a gross French cook), humane characters, a great deal of decency, and the tantalizing wondering if the story is true, if the alternative is credible – or if it is a parable that is asking that we think and imagine and come to a realization of providence.

1. Audience response to the film? Impact? Personal? The story and experience of Pi? The family story? India? The voyage? The animals? Survival?

2. The film as a fable, the imaginative story of Pi’s voyage, the island and survival? Pi’s more realistic journey? The journalist listening to both stories? The humane dimension? The reflections on God and providence? Which was the better story?

3. The adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel? The Booker prize?

4. The recreation of the period? Contemporary, Pi as an adult, the visit from the writer, his reminiscences? The earlier time? His uncle and the swimming pool in Paris, La Piscine? The uncle? Pi’s father? Giving him his name? The return to Pondicherry? Setting up the home? The family? School? The sea? The colonial French style of the town? The zoo?

5. The pervasive presence of the sea, the coast? The voyage? The ship, life on the ship, the ship the storm, the ship’s sinking? The lifeboat, the provisions, the calm, the fish, the luminescent whale, the flying fish? The sharks? The musical score?

6. The zoo in Pondicherry? The range of animals, the opening credits and the different animals? The effect? Richard Parker and his cage? Pi and his contact with the tiger? His father’s reaction, the goat and the tiger killing and eating it? The need to move to Canada, taking the animals on board? The lifeboat, the chimp, the hyena, the zebra, Richard Parker? Meerkats on the island?

7. Pi and his voiceover, his tone, the adult telling the story, the boy and his relationship to his parents, his brother? In Paris, the odd name, the zoo at home, life at home, the children ridiculing him and his name, going to the different classes, explaining pi, geography, the mathematics? The teacher, the explanation, the decimal points?

8. Richard Parker, his place in the zoo, his name, the hunter and the entry? The goat, the father giving a lesson to his son? The savagery of the tiger?

9. Pi and the religious dimensions of his life? Hindu background? His visiting the catholic church? The holy water dare? His meeting the priest, the images of Jesus, the crucifix, the discussions with the priest, the meaning of Jesus’ death, salvation? His liking this focus on Jesus? His later visit to the Muslims, discussions about Allah, Muslim practice and belief?

10. Pi’s older life, the encounter with the tiger, his gaining of wisdom, relationship with his brother, the family? The decision to go to Canada? His dismay? Going onto the boat, taking the animals? The encounter with the French cook, his ugliness his treatment of the passengers?

11. The panic on the ship, Pi going on deck, his experience of the storm, the other sailors, the lifeboat, his being in the lifeboat, the animals, its moving away from the ship?

12. On the boat, the information for survival, the supplies, the flares? The writing material and Pi using it? Food, water? His fear, his strength, the distance from the boat, the buoy, the darkness, the heat and cold? Sleeping? The need for water? The animals, the zebra and its being wounded, the hyena and its ugliness and being vicious, an animal scavenger, the chimp, Richard Parker? The deaths of the animals? Pi and his grief?

13. Richard Parker, his look, size, Pi and his reaction, weary, the menace, the tiger and his needs for food, drink, supplying him, the fish?

14. The passing of time, careful, urinating to demarcate territories, Richard Parker squirting Pi, Pi establishing the rules?

15. Pi and the interactions, the relationship with Richard Parker, taming and control? Pi thinner, wearier?

16. The experience of the fish, the whale, the flying fish, the luminescence? Pi and his sense of wonder? Landing, the island, welcoming, treacherous, eating, the roots, the water, the meerkats, Richard Parker and his eating, Pi in the tree, finding the skull, the island and its capacity to devour? Leaving?

17. The Breeking of the bond with Richard Parker, his walking into the jungle, no farewell, the hurt for Pi?

18. The return to the present, the writer and the discussions with the older Pi? The philosophical issues? Theological issues? Religious language, religious themes? God? The fable story, the realistic story? The audience’s choice?