Life of Pi

It’s been a quiet year on the film front.  Going through the list of movies released this year, I was hard pressed to come up with five that I have really enjoyed.  I’m hopeful that the holiday season releases will deliver an improvement to the year’s crop. 

Life of Pi, due for release on 1 January in Australia, is certainly a step in the right direction.  Directed by Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Hulk, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) Life of Pi is a visual feast.  Shot in 3D, it features some of the most breathtakingly beautiful sequences ever seen.   It is worthwhile seeing just for the visuals.  I have never seen anything quite like it.  The scenes shot from under the water, the fluorescent night-time scene with the whale, the storm and even the scenes at the old Piscine Molitor in Paris are unforgettable. 

Seen superficially, the story, which is best described as magical realism (not my favourite genre), is actually fine and gripping.  Of course, there are deeper levels and, like Yan Martel’s book on which it is based, the theme of the film can be interpreted as an allegory for life itself and particularly for the role that religion plays in the life of an individual.  Fortunately, the message, if there is one, is left fairly open to interpretation.  One interpretation, which probably sits most comfortably with a rabid atheist like me, is that the film offers an explanation of why mankind needs religion.   It does not, to me at least, seem to want to make the case that religious stories are real, nor, thankfully, that one religion is superior to the other.   It just seems to be saying that we need these fantasies to soften the harsh reality in which we live.  Needless to say, others of a more spiritual bent will find far deeper meaning in Pi’s story.