Life of Pi (2012)

Director: Ang Lee

 Almost never does a great book turn into a great movie, and why should they? Books and movie are two different mediums, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Yann Martel's novel is in my opinion, a masterpiece. It's a poignant and thought-provoking treatise on religion and spirituality in the modern world. A faithful film adaptation of a masterpiece novel such as this will almost always be of lesser quality, just as a book adaptation of an inherently cinematic film (like 2001: A Space Odyssey) will not be as good as the film. This is all to say that I don't believe Life of Pi is as good as the book but that doesn't mean it's a bad movie or a bad adaptation, quite the contrary actually. The fact that Ang Lee actually filmed this novel is an impressive enough achievement on its own, and not only did he put it on screen, he did so in fantastical and magnificent fashion. The film is littered with spellbinding images of the ocean and mostly realistically rendered CGI animals. The vast expanse of the never-ending ocean is created beautifully and illustrates the serenity of loneliness that Pi feels out by himself stranded in the Pacific Ocean. The 3D also adds to the experience (a rarity) and is a valuable tool when it comes to capturing life on a small lifeboat.

The visual experience of the film is the most impressive thing Lee has done with this adaptation, emphasizing the beauty of the world around Pi, an important factor when it comes to how exactly Pi gets the resolve to actually survive the long and difficult ordeal. The book and the movie both are really all about how we choose to live (or survive) this difficult world, and why faith and religion is the answer for so many people around the world. The "twist" ending isn't really a twist as much as it is a revelation of what the story is really about, which is the choice between a life of beauty and purpose or a life of brutality and death. I'm not sure the film makes this analogy as clear as it could have been, the film does seem a bit more preoccupied with the survival aspect of the story rather than the religious aspects. But nonetheless, those religious aspects that made the book so great are certainly there if you want to find them. While the power of the film is a bit muted for me personally because I've experienced this story before, this really is the best faithful adaptation of the book that could have ever been made.

Grade: A-