Life of Pi (2012) * * *

Directed by:  Ang Lee

Starring:  Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Gerard Depardieu, Rafe Spall

The bulk of Life of Pi occurs while Pi (Sharma) is stranded at sea for 227 days in a lifeboat accompanied by a tiger, zebra, hyena, and orangutan.    The ship carrying Pi and his family to America from India sank and now Pi must fight to survive at sea.    No, Life of Pi is not Cast Away on the open sea.    It is visually superb with seamless visual effects which display the wonder and the horrors of the ocean.    We are also engrossed in Pi's struggle, which at times may result in certain death either at the hands of nature or by the animals who managed to fall into the lifeboat.   

Does Life of Pi move slowly at times?   Yes, but not fatally.   The ocean scenes are intercut with scenes of the older Pi (Khan) telling his extraordinary tale to a writer.    Is the story exactly as Pi described it?   Were there embellishments?    Were there animals aboard or someone (or something else)?    The movie hints at many possibilities.    At first, I wondered why the movie was told in flashback, but then the idea dawned on me that Pi's tale isn't about what happened as opposed to how he remembers it happening.     We see an older Pi who has learned to accept the joys of life and gratefully embraces even the small things. 

We also witness Pi's humble beginnings in India, where he was born with the name Piscine and other kids called him "pee".   He changes his nickname to Pi and soon his family is boarding the fateful ship bound for America which will never reach its destination.    While on sea, Pi must use every ounce of courage and resourcefulness to simply stay alive one more day.    He battles storms, learns to connect and communicate with the wildlife aboard his boat (especially the tiger), and experiences temporary joys such as schools of flying fish leaping over the boat.   

Ang Lee won his second Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi and looking over his career, he is not a director who shies away from challenging material.    Life of Pi is surely the most visually stunning film he has made, while other films such as Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, and Brokeback Mountain are grounded in reality and the problems people discover when they can't communicate their emotions properly.    Life of Pi presents a fantastical, extreme example of a young man cut off from communication with the outside world except for the beasts which occupy his boat with him.