Movie: Life of Pi

Have you seen Ang Lee’s Life of Pi? I haven’t read the book by Yann Martel, though usually I like to read a book before seeing the film version. In this case I decided not to wait, and I didn’t regret watching it first before reading it.

The film is visually beautiful and artfully constructed. It’s colorful and vivid with highly realistic computer generated imagery, as well as scenes with fantastical animation. The music, the acting and the editing are superb. You are drawn into the plot, and what is supposed to happen when you’re watching a quality film happens… your disbelief is suspended, time is suspended, and you are living inside the story with the characters.

Another way that I judge a film as good is when it haunts me. I either find myself thinking about it and what it was trying to say, or I have figured out what it has to say and that has moved me enough to keep reflecting on the feeling of being moved by it. To me that is what good art does – it moves you and it lingers with you until eventually it sinks into you, becoming part of your reservoir of wisdom.

This movie has stayed with me for 3 days so far. I keep pondering the connection between the beginning and the end. In the beginning of the movie, a question is raised because of the dialogue between the adult Pi and the novelist who has come to visit him. The novelist has been told by Pi’s uncle that Pi’s story will make him believe in God. So the challenge is given… make us, the audience, believe in God.

Pi tells his incredible story by first setting the stage with some background information, including his exploration into God as a young child. Pi is taught to be Hindu by his mother, but then he later adopts Catholicism as well as Islam. He practices all three religions at once.

I will not spoil your experience of the movie by relating what Pi goes through or what he tells the novelist in the final scene, but if you have seen the movie, then you may remember that he says near the end, “And so it goes with God.”

That short little statement – Pi’s conclusion – has been a stimulant for me these past few days. What does he mean? That’s how it goes with God or how we choose to understand God?

Enjoy this trailer of the movie. If you decide to watch the film (or if you’ve already watched it), let me know what you think.

Oh, and if, like me, you don’t take art too seriously, then you might also enjoy this video, “Everything Wrong With Life of Pi In 4 Minutes Or Less”:  http://youtu.be/E5KEHurAsCE

Except, don’t watch it until after you’ve seen the movie! :)

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they really are to what they do in life. http://about.me/angelarloeb __________________________________________________________