Ang Lee’s take on the much-loved Yann Martel novel is a heartfelt, exquisitely rendered film that works best not when it is pondering the universal questions, but simply exploring the strange beauty of life on our planet.
We open in a cozy family kitchen where a Canadian writer (Rafe Spall) – severely starved of inspiration for his next book – is listening to an Indian man with the unusual name of Pi (Irrfan Khan) tell him a story.
When he was a teenager, Pi (Suraj Sharma) and his family packed up their zoo in Pondicherry and began the long journey across the Pacific Ocean to start a new life in Canada. Along the way, a storm hit and Pi found himself the sole human survivor, stranded in a lifeboat along with a fully-grown Bengal tiger by the name of Richard Parker.
Over the course of their 227 day journey together, Pi – paying witness to shoals of flying fish, luminescent jellyfish, carnivorous islands, herds of meerkats and many other unbelievable sights – was forced to grapple with his faith and find the will to go on surviving. As this tale is recounted by the older Pi the audience, alongside Spall’s Writer, is left wondering just how much of this strange story is true.
Because at its core, Life of Pi is a story about stories – or to be more specific, a story about telling stories. In the grand tradition of the Victorian novel, both Martel’s book and Lee’s film use the framing device of an author listening to a mysterious stranger tell them an unbelievable tale. Thus is Lee’s film based around the power of storytelling; the way in which we use it to make sense of our own lives and bring meaning to events that seem otherwise random and cruel. Tying into this theme, unsurprisingly, is faith.
The thing is, the sections of the film which deal with the modern day Pi, the Writer and questions of faith are certainly the weakest parts of Lee’s film. By the time the credits roll, you can’t help but feel that the existential aspects of this story have been rammed down your throat.
By contrast, the heart-in-your-throat survival scenes and the sequences dealing with Pi’s day-to-day life in the boat – collecting rainwater, fishing, staying sane by talking to Richard Parker – are perfectly rendered. Poignant, funny, and authentic, these scenes form the backbone of the film, and – crucially – keep you rooting for the survival of our two leads.
Ultimately, the film works because Sharma is so likeable as the resilient, resourceful, courageous Pi. At once vulnerable and strong, Sharma’s Pi is a powerhouse performance. In comparison, Spall and Khan – though they undeniably don’t have as much material to work with – feel rather two-dimensional.
Perhaps the true triumph of Lee’s film, however, is its visuals. From the incredibly effective shipwreck scene to the breathtakingly realistic work on the CGI Richard Parker, Life of Pi is a film which delights in showcasing the skills of its design, graphics and cinematography. What’s more, it’s a film that – perhaps inspired by the recent popularity of wildlife documentaries such as Life and Frozen Planet – celebrates the wild, terrifying, spectacular beauty of our planet.
Though by no means perfect, Lee’s film is undoubtedly an impressive spectacle. Heartfelt and joyous and beautiful to look at, Life of Pi is truly a celebration of life.
Released in UK cinemas on Thursday 20 December 2012.
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