Based on the 2001 fantasy adventure novel by Yantel Martel, “Life of Pi” follows an Indian boy nicknamed “Pi” as he explores the issues of faith and reason. The centerpiece of the film is his 227-day journey across the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat on which he and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker become stranded when the ship on which they are traveling sinks during a storm.
I saw “Life of Pi” 18 hours ago, which has not been enough time for me to unravel its themes. But I do know one thing: You do not need to understand “Life of Pi” to enjoy it. It is enough to sit in a theater and watch it.
The movie contains images that will stay with me as long as my memory holds. Early on, as Pi dives below the surface of a choppy sea, he turns and sees the ship on which he and his family were traveling sinking to the bottom of the ocean, its lights still on. Seeing Pi set against the backdrop of the massive boat was at once awe-inspiring and heartbreaking, knowing his father, mother and brother were still on board. Economic hardship had forced his father to decide to move the family from India to Canada, where a job awaited him, but tragedy struck before they reached their destination.
Later, director Ang Lee composes a shot in which the stars are shining on a pitch-black ocean as Pi’s tiny boat rests in the middle, unmoving. How vast the universe is, and how insignificant we feel as we regard its grandeur! I could have gazed at that shot for hours. Other images, including an island that turns iridescent at night and the remarkably realistic animation of Richard Parker, are equally memorable.
The commercials telling me I had to see “Life of Pi” to believe it turned me off, but having seen the movie, I urge you to do the same – on the largest possible screen and in 3D. Lee uses the third dimension in a way that casts a shadow on every other 3D film I’ve seen, including “Avatar,” because he didn’t use it just for effect, but also to tell the story.
In fact, Lee used everything at his disposal to tell the story, including dialogue as memorable as the imagery. As a child, Pi accepts bits and pieces of three religions as he searches for God – Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. His father, a skeptic, chastises him and tells him believing in everything is believing in nothing. My favorite line comes later, as an adult Pi tells a writer there’s room in the human experience for every religion – and for doubt. “How can you know how strong your faith is if it hasn’t been tested?” he asks.
That line hit me like a thunder clap. There I was, sipping a Coke and munching on popcorn, when in a few words Pi summed up my journey of faith. I grew up in a Christian home, accepted what my parents taught me, and then for years battled uncertainty as I tried to make sense of the Bible and make belief in Jesus my own. In the end, my faith in Christ was strong and able to withstand the many reasons for unbelief life can throw at you, including the slow death by cancer of someone close to me.
That said, “Life of Pi” is not a Christian movie. It does not confirm or deny any religion, but rather meditates on the nature of faith in a way that can speak to anyone, whether Hindu, Christian, Muslim, or agnostic. So rather than try to understand what the tiger represents, or what Pi being stranded on the ocean means, I would rather think of “Life of Pi” as a mirror on which I see my beliefs reflected back at me, much like Pi’s father tells him he sees only his own emotions staring back at him in the eyes of the tiger.
In this sense, maybe I did understand one possible idea behind the movie: That God is who we want him, or her, to be. If that’s the case, then Richard Parker represents the Divine, and calling him by name was Pi’s attempt to humanize, or personalize, something beyond his understanding. On the other hand, perhaps Artel was suggesting we are God.
You can go in circles, which is like having a conversation about religion with someone who has different beliefs than you. But one thing is incontestable: “Life of Pi” illuminates what is inside of you, making it an extraordinary and even transformative movie. Trying to make perfect sense of it would be like trying to understand a dream. The images and the feelings are what will stay with you when you wake up.
Rated PG for emotional thematic content, peril and frightening action sequences. Four stars out of four. Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.