Life of Pi lived with me for a very long time making me think very deeply about our very existence! I highly recommend it for anyone with a love of life and adventure.
This is the kind of film that lifts you off your seat, transports you right into the screen, and swallows you up.
Was what I had just seen for real or not?
It is a poetic story about an Indian family who are forced to transport their entire zoo across the ocean. During their journey their ship is hit by a terrible tempest that literally swallows them up.
This is, without a doubt, one of the most dramatic storms I have ever seen on film with incredible 3D effects. I was rocking in my seat and people were actually making sounds as they struggled to cope with the turmoil. I felt seasick – and terrified!
If you are into realism and mysticism, excitement and total tranquillity, adventure and contemplation then Life of Pi will is certainly for you. It is all these things and more!
The fight for survival
During the film the young son, Pi, survives the storm and embarks on an amazing journey on a lifeboat with three wild animals for company!
Half of the film is about how Pi conquers and captains his boat for months out on the open sea, something that at times is very difficult to watch. I was totally engrossed, forgetting my own problems completely – Pi made me cry as he pitted himself against the higher physical attributes of the wild animals to whom he was forced to surrender his boat.
This film is so realistic I could smell and taste it. The wonderful aromas of India at the beginning contrasted with the stench of vomiting animals on the Japanese freighter in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The breath of the enormous wild Bengal tiger was difficult to ignore.
And the sight of the half starved vegetarian tearing at the flesh of a fish with his bear hands and teeth, was a real relief. It is a tale of survival and at the end I was thoroughly exhausted.
19 year old Suraj Sharma from New Delhi played the lead role superbly. He actually learned to swim while making this film, and he had never previously seen the sea!
Highly Recommended
I went to see the film because it came very highly recommended.
My 13-year-old son had seen it the day before with his friend while I stayed in the foyer to catch up with her mum. I imagined that they would enjoy it, but I wasn’t expecting the reaction we got.
They came out of the theater absolutely stunned. When he eventually gathered his emotions, my son told me that it was such a beautiful film, and that there was a wild tiger on a boat that was rocked by a huge whale in florescent water, and there were thousands and thousands of stars in the night sky! Whew!
He then begged us to take him again the next day! I have never had that reaction from him before. I couldn’t believe it. He kept telling me that I would love it, and that he wanted to see it all another time. So I did, and my husband and my 85-year-old mum came with us.
Life of Pi touched us all very deeply. The difference in our ages was insignificant, which is a great achievement in itself. It was by far the best family movie we had ever seen. My mum enjoyed it so much. My husband was left speechless by the beauty and magnitude of this epic tale that is full of universal themes like; growing up, fear, freedom and religion. I was transported to a place deep inside my heart.
There aren’t many films that have touched me in the way Life of Pi touched me. I was totally unprepared. It was, in my view, perfect – an enormous adventure.
I urge anyone who hasn’t seen it to do so — you’re in for a treat!
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Here’s another film that I highly recommend Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tin Tin. Come and read my review.
Do you enjoy films that are not entirely realistic? Please leave a comment. Thanks very much for your visit.
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