brought onto silver screen with exquisite flavors by Lee Ang, is a an adaptation of fable of life, a landmark novel by Yann Martel. The movie apart from being a presentation of great visual art also leaves many metaphorical thoughts in the mind...
The movie in form of a narrative is loaded with many metaphors and morals. Though extremely slow in its unfolding the storyline, it questions our day to day practices and life’s unpredictable way forward. The story of a young Indian youth Piscine Militor Patel (named after a swimming pool )goes through many phases of life to unravel the essence of life… An Indian teen from 1970s Pondicherry struggles 227 days while in midst of Pacific Ocean with a carnivore form in Bengal tiger better known as Richard Parker.
Pi’s quest of multiple religious forms, his conflict of views with his family and finally his struggle for survival in the midst of Pacific is true optimization of lot that we go through in life…
The first lesson is in the impermanence of life, beliefs, experiences
and relationships. The little boy wonders and explores the different religions,
only to be rebuked by his father in following one of it. He studies and aspires
to be Christian, Buddhist and Muslim, to
realise every religion opens a door to different facets in his own mind. First
question, if we follow something does it mean we can’t believe and respect the
other ones in life; or come up with something totally new from the existent
philosophies. Very often the new is always shot down. Whether it happened in
the times of Socrates or Joan of Arc the practices of times are all that is
accepted and the rest is questioned. Who are we? How did we get here? Where are
we going? The mysteries of life are many fold; no matter what progress science has made, some of the unanswered questions since the begining of time remain the same!!
Pi states that, had the wild tiger not been there to keep him alert, he
wouldn't have survived. Life also sends many issues and people to keep us
alert of our life or to get the best of us. Sometimes when we look back in
life, many people and incidents have been a turning point to create who we are
today. No matter how treacherous and traumatic they seem, they were needed to take the soul through this eternal journey of life's wisdom!
Life of Pi is also a live example of the fact that no relationship or
phase is permanent. Pi’s search for religion, his empathy for animals, his
relationship with family or Anandi, his journey with Richard Parker all ended
with various circumstantial events. Pi regrets that he couldn’t convey formal
goodbyes or even the acknowledgement to any of these relationships. Thus in
life it’s critical to express feelings of gratitude, love, respect, empathy, or
affection to the respective people…else one day it might be too late. Let our
ego, fear of rejection or self-respect not come in way of truly expressing
ourselves. Pi regrets his distance with his father and how he wanted to
communicate to him, his gratitude. Life is too short to keep our feelings to
ourselves and hold on to our egos.
The movie also gives a strong message on holding on to our hopes and
aspirations through tough times. The good/evil,sunny/storm, Justice/Injustice, wet/dry, eating /being
eaten/hunger all are part of the day to day struggle…Each of these experiences
gives a feeling of uncertainty and mystery in life. Pi’s experiences of uncertainty
of life can be paralleled with life of a common man, going through dreams or
aspirations and continuous struggle. The beauty is in living every experience or moment of life to the fullest, while it lasts ...