Released Year: 2012
Directed by 李安 Ang Lee
Casted by:
Suraj Sharma as Pi, age 16
Irfan Khan as Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, adult
Rafe Spall as the Writer
Rafe Spall as the Writer
Story:
Pi Patel, an immigrant from Pondicherry in India living in Canada, is approached by a local novelist who has been referred to him by his "uncle" (a family friend), believing that Pi's life story would make a great book. Pi relates an extended tale:
He is named "Piscine Molitor" by his parents after a swimming pool in France. He changes his name to "Pi" when he begins secondary school, because he is tired of being taunted with the nickname "Pissing Patel". His family owns a local zoo, and Pi takes an interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (after a clerical error); to teach him the reality of the tiger's nature as a carnivore, Pi's father forces him to witness it killing a goat. He is raised Hindu and vegetarian, but at 12 years old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and starts to follow all three religions. As an adult he states that he is Catholic-Hindu, and when asked if he is also Jewish, he replies that he lectures in Kabbalah at the university.
When Pi is 16 (and experiencing first love), his father decides to close the zoo and move his family to Canada, transferring the animals in the zoo in the process. They book passage with their animals (to be sold in North America) on a Japanese freighter named the Tsimtsum. The ship encounters a heavy storm and begins to sink while Pi is on deck marveling at the storm. He tries to find his family, but a crew member throws him into a lifeboat; from the rough sea, he watches helplessly as the ship sinks, killing his family and its crew.
After the storm, Pi finds himself in the lifeboat with an injured zebra, and is joined by an orangutan who lost her offspring in the shipwreck. A hyena emerges from the tarp covering half of the boat, and before long begins to attack and eat the injured zebra, killing it. To Pi's distress, the hyena also mortally wounds the orangutan in a fight. Suddenly the tiger Richard Parker emerges from under the tarp, and kills the hyena.
Pi finds emergency food and water rations on the boat, and builds a small raft of floatation devices so that he can stay at a safe distance from the tiger. Realizing that he must feed the tiger to protect himself, Pi begins fishing, with some success. He also collects rain water for both to drink. At one point, he helps the desperate tiger climb back into the boat after it had jumped off to hunt fish. In a nighttime encounter with a breaching whale, Pi loses much of his supplies. Faced with starvation, he eats raw fish. After many days at sea, Pi realizes that he can no longer live on the tiny raft and trains the tiger Richard Parker to accept him in the boat. He also realizes that caring for the tiger is keeping him alive.
After weeks longer at sea, near the end of their strength, they reach a floating island of edible algae supporting a forest, fresh water, and a large population of meerkats. Both Pi and Richard Parker eat and drink freely and regain strength. But at night the island transforms into a hostile environment, with the fresh water turning acidic. Pi finds a human tooth inside a plant and concludes that the plants are carnivorous, requiring them to leave the island.
The lifeboat eventually reaches the coast of Mexico. Finally back on land, Richard Parker stumbles away from Pi and stops at the edge of the jungle. Pi expects that the tiger will turn toward him and acknowledge him. But instead he looks into the jungle for a while and goes in. Pi is distraught when rescued and begins to weep as he is taken to hospital.
In hospital, insurance agents for the Japanese freighter come to hear his account of the incident. They find his story unbelievable, and ask him to tell them what "really" happened, if only for the credibility of their report. He answers with a less fantastic but detailed account of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken leg, and the ship's cook. In this story, the cook kills the sailor, and then Pi's mother, to use them as bait and food. Pi kills the cook in revenge.
In the present, the writer notes parallels between the two stories: the orangutan was Pi's mother, the zebra was the sailor, the hyena was the cook, and Richard Parker, the tiger, was Pi himself. Pi asks him which story he prefers; he chooses the story with the tiger, to which Pi responds, "And so it is with God." Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the writer notices a closing comment about the remarkable feat of surviving 227 days at sea, especially with a tiger--meaning that the agents chose that story as well.
He is named "Piscine Molitor" by his parents after a swimming pool in France. He changes his name to "Pi" when he begins secondary school, because he is tired of being taunted with the nickname "Pissing Patel". His family owns a local zoo, and Pi takes an interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (after a clerical error); to teach him the reality of the tiger's nature as a carnivore, Pi's father forces him to witness it killing a goat. He is raised Hindu and vegetarian, but at 12 years old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and starts to follow all three religions. As an adult he states that he is Catholic-Hindu, and when asked if he is also Jewish, he replies that he lectures in Kabbalah at the university.
When Pi is 16 (and experiencing first love), his father decides to close the zoo and move his family to Canada, transferring the animals in the zoo in the process. They book passage with their animals (to be sold in North America) on a Japanese freighter named the Tsimtsum. The ship encounters a heavy storm and begins to sink while Pi is on deck marveling at the storm. He tries to find his family, but a crew member throws him into a lifeboat; from the rough sea, he watches helplessly as the ship sinks, killing his family and its crew.
After the storm, Pi finds himself in the lifeboat with an injured zebra, and is joined by an orangutan who lost her offspring in the shipwreck. A hyena emerges from the tarp covering half of the boat, and before long begins to attack and eat the injured zebra, killing it. To Pi's distress, the hyena also mortally wounds the orangutan in a fight. Suddenly the tiger Richard Parker emerges from under the tarp, and kills the hyena.
Pi finds emergency food and water rations on the boat, and builds a small raft of floatation devices so that he can stay at a safe distance from the tiger. Realizing that he must feed the tiger to protect himself, Pi begins fishing, with some success. He also collects rain water for both to drink. At one point, he helps the desperate tiger climb back into the boat after it had jumped off to hunt fish. In a nighttime encounter with a breaching whale, Pi loses much of his supplies. Faced with starvation, he eats raw fish. After many days at sea, Pi realizes that he can no longer live on the tiny raft and trains the tiger Richard Parker to accept him in the boat. He also realizes that caring for the tiger is keeping him alive.
After weeks longer at sea, near the end of their strength, they reach a floating island of edible algae supporting a forest, fresh water, and a large population of meerkats. Both Pi and Richard Parker eat and drink freely and regain strength. But at night the island transforms into a hostile environment, with the fresh water turning acidic. Pi finds a human tooth inside a plant and concludes that the plants are carnivorous, requiring them to leave the island.
The lifeboat eventually reaches the coast of Mexico. Finally back on land, Richard Parker stumbles away from Pi and stops at the edge of the jungle. Pi expects that the tiger will turn toward him and acknowledge him. But instead he looks into the jungle for a while and goes in. Pi is distraught when rescued and begins to weep as he is taken to hospital.
In hospital, insurance agents for the Japanese freighter come to hear his account of the incident. They find his story unbelievable, and ask him to tell them what "really" happened, if only for the credibility of their report. He answers with a less fantastic but detailed account of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken leg, and the ship's cook. In this story, the cook kills the sailor, and then Pi's mother, to use them as bait and food. Pi kills the cook in revenge.
In the present, the writer notes parallels between the two stories: the orangutan was Pi's mother, the zebra was the sailor, the hyena was the cook, and Richard Parker, the tiger, was Pi himself. Pi asks him which story he prefers; he chooses the story with the tiger, to which Pi responds, "And so it is with God." Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the writer notices a closing comment about the remarkable feat of surviving 227 days at sea, especially with a tiger--meaning that the agents chose that story as well.
L² Scored: 9/10
L² Comment:
L² Comment:
From the best selling novel of Yann Martel, the incredible Lee Ang has turned it into a nice movie for us. I love the story but the movie is a bit lengthy in some part. But i just don't know which part to cut off if i'm the editor... maybe will be the part of the flying fish~ Overall its just this good looking hindu kid acting by himself with all the graphic around him :) Not bad, a good try to watch. It might win the Best Film~ who knows...
No comments:
Post a Comment