LIFE OF PI MOVIE ANALYSIS

Title: Life of Pi

Genre: Fantasy Adventure

Characters:

·         Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel

·         Gita Patel, Pi’s mother

·         Santosh Patel, Pi’s father

·         Richard Parker(Bengal Tiger)

·         Orange Juice(Orangutan)

·         Mr.Okamoto and Mr.Chiba

·         The Author

Setting: Pacific Ocean

Plot:   

Pi, Piscine Molitor Patel, grows up in South Indian city of Pondicherry, where his father runs the zoo. A precocious and intelligent boy, by the age of fifteen Pi—Hindu from an early age—has also adopted Christianity and Islam, and considers himself a pious devotee to all three religions.

As politics shift in India, Pi's family decides to move to Canada, but on the passage over the ship sinks. Pi finds refuge on a lifeboat, but he's not alone. Amazingly he is stuck sharing the limited space with an orangutan named Orange Juice, a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, and a Royal Bengal Tiger named "Richard Parker." The hyena kills and devours both the zebra and Orange Juice, before Richard Parker kills the hyena. Pi is left alone on a lifeboat with an adult male tiger. Pi works on taming the tiger and marking his own territory while trying to make a life raft.

Not long after, the boat pulls up to a strange island of trees that grow directly out of vegetation, without any soil. Pi and Richard Parker stay here for a time, sleeping in their boat and exploring the island during the day. Pi discovers a huge colony of meerkats who sleep in the trees and freshwater ponds. One day, Pi finds human teeth in a tree’s fruit and comes to the conclusion that the island eats people. He and Richard Parker head back out to sea, finally washing ashore on a Mexican beach. Richard Parker runs off, and villagers take Pi to a hospital.

Theme:  The Path of Survival. Pi Patel is proof that if you believe in something, and have the will to pursue that belief, while adapting to current changes, you will survive.

Symbolism: Algae Island. It offers temporary salvation to Pi, but he must leave the island. His illusion of the island is shattered. There is a kind of heaven and hell associated with day and night. By day the meerkats eat without having to kill and show no fear, even of Richard Parker. At night, the island becomes carnivorous and the ecosystem feeds on itself. Orange is the color of survival. The whistles, life jacket, lifebuoy, tarpaulin, and Richard Parker are orange. Tiger, the physical manifestation of Pi’s dark side.  He’s the carnivore, the ruthless killer, the animal with no morals or ethics.  He’s the typical dark side, the side you fear, the side you try to keep hidden inside.  The side that you know you can never resist the side that can destroy you at any moment. 

1. What does the title mean in relation to the film as a whole?

·         Pi himself might not be immortal, but his story is. It reminds us both of the continuity of life and the openness of Pi's story. Meaning, the story doesn't limit itself to Pi. Ideas, people and religions, anything with the spark of life, all follow, to some degree, the pattern of messiness and depravity and hope.

2. Among the characters, to whom can you relate to?

·       Pi, because he never loses hope despite of all the hardships that he encountered. . Pi didn’t give up hope and he kept moving.

3. Which part of the presentation struck you the most? Why?

·       Pi poses a question which in many ways explains exactly why the story with animals was told. Pi says, “So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?”.  As in religion, simply having faith is enough to preserve morality. But, this question may be interpreted differently. When Pi asks this question, it suggests that he realizes that the story of the animals must be an illusion created by him. However, he also realizes that such an illusion is not bad. In fact, it enabled him to survive an ordeal that could very easily have killed him. This acknowledgement suggests that somewhere deep inside he knows the story with people is true, but that it does not matter.

4. What is the movie’s message?

·         Life Of Pi is a story of perseverance and a story of not giving up, even in the harshest of conditions. Pi didn’t give up hope and he kept moving. Whether it’s the black sea or the dark clouds or the ominous waves or the hungry predator as company, Pi never gave up hope of survival.

5. Did I like this in general? Why?

·         Yes, I like the movie. At first, I find it boring but as the movie goes along, I kinda like it. There might be many things in Life which we learn through others. At every mode of Life there would be some lesson waiting for us to be taught. Each and every lesson which others teach us are important but the lessons of Life which are taught through self-experiences remain for a lifetime. These personal experiences and lessons evolve any person and relate him to the ultimate being who is known as GOD.

6. Did I agree with the main theme/purpose? Why or why not?

·         Yes, I agree with the theme of the movie. It is shown that Pi Patel survives extreme hardships by adapting to his surroundings, finding the self-will to continue striving, and by never losing sight of what he believes in, his identity, which is his faith in God. Pi Patel is proof that if you believe in something, and have the will to pursue that belief, while adapting to current changes, you will survive.

7. What specifically did I like/dislike? Why?

·         I like the internal meanings of each move of the characters remain in the astounding visuals of the film and yet the philosophy of the film is not lost. LIFE of PI is a must watch on screen.

8. Are there any aspects of theme which are left ambiguous at the end? Why?

·         None, because both of them survived.

9. How does this film relate to the things that are happening in your life?

·       It is an eye-opening experience. “You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.” This not only inspired me, but also reminded me, we can take life the way it comes at us but we also have the power to steer our lives in the direction that we want. We just have to remember this even when times get rough… and to make the best of any situation. Such a strong message yet so simple. “Even if it seems that God abandoned us, He is watching.”