Film Review – Life of Pi

Life of Pi has to be one of the most beautiful films of 2012. It is a technical marvel. Anyone who has read Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning book would know the emotional tale of a young Indian boy named Piscine Patel (Pi for short, played by Suraj Sharma), and how he was shipwrecked with only a Bengal Tiger for company.

Over the course of the film, Pi and Richard Parker, the Bengal Tiger, encounter many marvels, including a sky full of flying fish, an ocean swimming with irifescent jellyfish and a carnivorous island. All of these wonders and more are brought to the big cinema screen with a dreamlike intensity. This is one of two films this year that had used 3D viewing in a creative and revolutionary way; the other, surprisingly enough, was Madagascar 3.

Director, Ang Lee, has brought to the screen a seemingly unfilmable story, with breathtaking mastery of computer animation. The director’s previous films, such as Brokeback Mountain and Sense and Sensibility have shown him to be one of the most versatile directors on the planet.

While the film sort of hints for people to believe in God, it has the opposite effect. It reminds us more of the human resiliance, reminds us that “There is no power on this Earth than the will to live.” , thanks in part to the extraodinary performance of an inexperienced leading actor.

The twist ending is of questionable merit, but it shows how stroy-tellers embellish the truth in order to bring out its deeper meanings.

I won’t do what I usually do, and give you a brief outline of the story, as I think it’s is one of those films that you have to go out and see for yourself. I would go as far as to say that this film will make you think about yourself, and your life.

This film has starts you may never have heard of. The main characters are as follows:

Newcomer, Suraj Sharma: Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel (Aged 16)

Bollywood and Hollywood star, Irfan Khan: Pi, adult.

Child Star, Ayush Tandon: Pi (Aged 12)

Child Star, Gautum Belur: Pi (Aged 5)

Bollywood star, Tabu: Gita Patel, Pi’s Mother

Bollywood star, Adil Hussein: Santosh Patel, Pi’s Father

Hollywood star, Rafe Spall: The Writer

This film is one to make you cry, laugh and think. It is certainly not to be missed.

My rating? 10/10.

Sami Ullah

Tagged: film, Life, of, Pi, review, sami, ullah