Plot :
A Canadian novelist named Yann Martel
meets an Indian man, Pi Patel, with some knowledge from Pi's late
father's friend, known to Pi as "Mamaji", for a good book. Pi tells the
novelist his life story.
In a flashback, Pi's father named him Piscine Molitor after a swimming pool in France. By the time he reached secondary school, he changed his name to "Pi" (the Greek letter, π)
because he was tired of being called "Pissing Patel" (due to the
pronunciation of his name). Pi's family owned a zoo, and Pi took great
interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
When Pi tries feeding the tiger, his father runs in and angrily tells
him that the tiger is dangerous, and forces Pi to witness the tiger
killing a goat to prove his point. Pi is raised Hindu and vegetarian, but at 12 years old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam,
and decides to follow all three religions as he "just wants to love
God". His mother supports his desire to grow, but his father, a
rationalist, tries to convert him to his own way of thinking.
When Pi is 16, his father decides to move the family to Canada, where he intends to settle and sell the zoo animals. Pi's family books passage on a Japanese freighter named Tsimtsum.
During a storm, the ship founders while Pi is on deck. He tries to find
his family, but a member of the crew throws him into a lifeboat. As the ship falls into the sea, a freed zebra
lands on the boat with him. Pi watches helplessly as the ship sinks,
killing his family. After the storm, Pi finds himself in the lifeboat
with the injured zebra, and is joined by an orangutan. A spotted hyena
emerges from a tarp covering half of the boat and snaps at Pi, forcing
him to retreat to the top of the tarp while it kills the zebra and
orangutan. Later, Richard Parker emerges from under the tarp, killing
the hyena.
Pi retrieves biscuits, water rations and a hand axe and builds a
small raft to stay at a safe distance from Richard Parker. Pi begins
fishing and is able to feed Richard Parker. He also collects rain water
for them to drink. When the tiger jumps off to hunt fish, Pi considers
letting it drown but ultimately helps it climb back into the boat.
During a night-time encounter with a breaching humpback whale
Pi loses much of his supplies, forcing him to eat fish for the first
time in his life. Pi trains Richard Parker to accept him in the boat and
realises that caring for the tiger is keeping him alive.
Weeks later they reach a floating island of edible plants, supporting a mangrove jungle, fresh water pools, and a large population of meerkats.
Pi and Richard Parker eat and drink freely and regain strength. At
night, the island transforms into a hostile environment: Richard Parker
retreats to the lifeboat and the meerkats sleep in the trees while the
fresh water pools turn acidic and digest the dead fish in the pools. Pi
discovers that the island itself is carnivorous after finding a human
tooth embedded in a flower. The next day, Pi and Richard Parker leave
the island.
The lifeboat reaches the coast of Mexico.
Pi is crushed that Richard Parker does not acknowledge him before
disappearing into the jungle. Pi is rescued and brought to a hospital. Insurance agents
for the freighter interview him, but do not believe his story and ask
what "really" happened. Remembering an incident aboard the ship when the
ship's cook insulted his family, he makes up a less fantastic account
of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a Buddhist sailor with a broken
leg, and the cook. According to this story, the cook killed the sailor
in order to eat him and use him as bait. In a later struggle, Pi's
mother pushed her son to safety on a smaller raft before the cook
stabbed her and threw her overboard. Pi later returned, took the knife
and killed the cook.
Next, Yann notes the parallels between the two stories: the orangutan
was Pi's mother, the zebra was the sailor, the hyena was the cook, and
Richard Parker was Pi. Pi asks which story the writer prefers, and the
writer chooses "the one with the tiger" because it is "the better
story", to which Pi responds, "Thank you. And so it goes with God".
Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, Yann sees that the agents
wrote that Pi survived 227 days at sea with an adult Bengal tiger,
meaning they had also chosen the more fantastic story to be the one
recorded as the real story.
So, tonight I watched this movie for the second time. I remember watched this on cinema all by myself last year, and yes, I teared up. Like a lot. But I don't clearly remember how it felt..this time, I feel too emotional..and get so much deeper meaning that I can't see before.
Is this because many things have happened to me in this past year therefore I even have a different perspective over a movie?
Well, It's just sooo my kind of movie..where it talks about; belief, fate, God's shape, universe, human even animal soul, life lesson, and my all time favorite animal. I found myself astonished..by that I mean..what in the world people made a film that great and I didn't realize at the first place!
All those beautiful scenes, meaningful lines, stupendous and amazing thoughts, all packed in one and be a masterpiece for someone like me.
Anyway, I am actually writing this post right after I just got done watching the movie and it makes me can't arrange my word neatly. :)
Over all I just want to tell you guys that "Life of Pi" is a very recommended movie, if you're looking for a movie with a deep level of thinking and sparkling view , I could say it is one of the best, so far. :)
Memorable Quotes:
"Why would a God do that? Why would He send his own Son to suffer for the sins of ordinary people? | Because He loves us. God made himself approachable to us — human — so we could understand Him. We can't understand God in all His perfection. But we can understand God's Son, and his suffering, as we would a brother's. | That made no sense! Sacrificing the innocent to atone for the sins of the guilty. What kind of love is that? But this Son… I couldn't get Him out of my head."
"Thank you Vishnu, for introducing me to Christ. — I came to faith through Hinduism, and I found God's love through Christ. But God wasn't finished with me yet. God works in mysterious ways, and so it was he introduced himself again. This time by the name of Allah. — Allāhu Akbar. My Arabic was never very good, but the sound and feel of the words brought me closer to God. In performing salah, the ground I touched became holy ground, and I found a feeling of serenity and brotherhood."
"And how can he find his way if he does not choose a path? Listen,
instead of leaping from one religion to the next, why not start with
reason? In a few hundred years, science has taken us farther in
understanding the universe than religion has in 10,000. | Science can teach us more about what is out there, but not what is in here(heart). | I do not expect us to all agree about everything, but I would much
rather have you believe in something I don't agree with than to accept
everything blindly. And that begins with thinking rationally."
"Faith is a house with many rooms. | But no room for doubt? | Oh plenty, on every floor. Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living
thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is
tested."
"Words are all I have left to hang on to. Everything's all mixed up,
fragmented, can't tell daydreams, nightdreams from reality anymore."
"No one has seen that island since, and you'd never read about those
trees in any book. And yet, if I hadn't found those shores I would have
died, if I hadn't discovered that tooth I would have been lost alone
forever. Even when God seemed to have abandoned me, he was watching.
Even when He seemed indifferent to my suffering, He was watching and
when I was beyond all hope of saving... He gave me rest and gave me a
sign to continue my journey..."
"I wept like a child. Not because I was overwhelmed at having survived,
although I was. I was weeping because Richard Parker left me so
unceremoniously. It broke my heart. You know my father was right:
Richard Parker never saw me as his friend. After all we had been through
he didn't even look back. But I have to believe there was more in his
eyes than my own reflection staring back at me. I know it, I felt it.
Even if I can't prove it. You know, I left so much behind: my family,
the zoo, India, Anandi. I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes
an act of letting go. But what always hurts the most is not taking a
moment to say goodbye. I was never able to thank my father for all I
learned from him. To tell him, without his lessons I would never have
survived. I know Richard Parker's a tiger but I wish I had said, "It's
over. We survived. Thank you for saving my life. I love you, Richard
Parker. You'll always be with me. May God be with you."
"I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go,
but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye."
In the end..this movie makes me feel like..
I need to find my own journey..
to really understand the world..
to literally talk to universe..
and see my God..
