Movie Analysis
Characters:Pi Patel, Santosh Patel, Ravi Patel, GitaPatel, Tiger, Writer, Cook,Anandi, Priest, Mamaji, etc.
Setting:India, Ocean, Mexico
Plot:
A novelist has come to talk to Pi Patel, a middle-aged Indian immigrant living in Canada. Pi's parents named him Piscine Molitor after a swimming pool in France. As a child he changed his name to "Pi" (the mathematical symbol, π)
because he was tired of being called "Pissing Patel". In flashback it
was seen that his family owned a zoo, and Pi took great interest in the
animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
When Pi tries to feed the tiger in great curiousity, his father runs in
and angrily tells him that the tiger is dangerous and not like a human.
He forces Pi to witness the tiger killing a goat to prove his point. Pi
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 he "just wants to love God."
When Pi is 16, his father decides to move the family to Winnipeg, Canada, where he intends to settle and sell the zoo animals. They book passage on a Japanese freighter named Tzimtzum.
One night there is a storm; the ship begins to founder while Pi is on
deck. He tries to find his family, but a crew member throws him into a lifeboat.
Pi watches helplessly as the ship sinks, killing his family and the
crew. After the storm, Pi finds himself in the lifeboat with an injured zebra, and is joined by an orangutan. A spotted hyena
emerges from the tarp covering half of the boat, and kills the zebra
and then the orangutan. Suddenly the tiger Richard Parker emerges from
under the tarp, killing the hyena.
Pi gets out biscuits, water rations, and a hand axe. He builds a
small raft and stays at a safe distance from the tiger. Pi begins
fishing and is able to feed the tiger. He also collects rain water for
both to drink. When the tiger jumps off to hunt fish, at first Pi wants
to let it drown, then he relents and helps it climb back into the boat.
After many days at sea, Pi trains the tiger to accept him in the boat.
He also realizes that caring for the tiger is keeping him alive. Weeks
later and half dead, they reach a floating island. Both Pi and Richard
Parker eat and drink freely and regain strength. But at night the island
transforms into a hostile environment: the fresh water turns acidic,
the resident meerkats
sleep in the trees, the plants are carnivorous. Pi discovers the
island's secrets when he finds a human tooth. Pi and the tiger leave.
The lifeboat eventually reaches the coast of Mexico.
Pi is crushed that that the tiger does not acknowledge him before
disappearing into the jungle. Pi is rescued and carried to hospital,
weeping. Insurance agents
for the Japanese freighter come to interview him. They do not believe
his story and ask what "really" happened. He tells a less fantastic
account of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken
leg, and the cook. The cook kills the sailor to use him as bait. In a
later struggle, Pi's mother pushes him to safety on a smaller raft, and
the cook stabs her as she falls overboard. Later, Pi returns, takes the
knife and kills the cook.
In the present day, the novelist notes the 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 the writer prefers, and the writer chooses the one
with the tiger because it "is the better story", to which Pi responds,
"And so it is with God". Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the
writer sees the agents wrote that Pi somehow survived 227 days at sea
with a tiger: the insurance agents had also chosen the more fantastic
story.
Theme: Hope, Survival, Faith, and Friendship
1. What does the title mean in relation to the film as a whole?
The title "Life of Pi" means that the story was about Pi's life. His life was something more different than a usual person. He struggle more to live. He took all the risk, he was very optimistic and wise person on how to survive in a long time in the ocean with a tiger named Richard Parker. The title is describing what the story is all about.
2. Among the characters to whom can you relate to?
I can relate more to Pi, I can see myself to him in terms of Struggling in order to survive life. Like him, I was trying to be strong because i believe that if there is life, there will be always hope for us and opportunity to achieve our goals or to succeed. All you have to do is to be strong and wise like Pi.
3. Which of the presentation struck you the most?why?
The part of the movie that struck me most is when Richard Parker left Pi when they already reach the Mexico shore.Richard Parker just left him without turning back to him.For Richard Parker, all that they've gone through was nothing for him.And that fact hurts Pi a lot.Just like on our lives,we got hurt when someone leave us suddenly without saying any word even you spend you life together, helping and struggling together for life. For others, it really meant a lot and it hurts to face the fact that anytime, those person that we thought they feel the same way like we did, just leave you hanging. And forget everything just like nothings happen.
4. What is the movies message?
The movies message was about how strong your faith in God, in times of trouble. Second is that life can be hard on us. If we want to survive, we have to be strong and wise in making decisions.And last, don't give up.you have to summon all your courage and think positive always. because if you want to win life, you have to be brave like Pi did in the movie.
5. Did i like this in general? why?
In general, I really like the movie. the movie was very inspiring and it let us realize how thankful we are and how lucky we are that we don't have to experience Pi's life to learn something and to realize how important life is.
6. Did i agree with the main theme? why?
I agree on the main theme/purpose. This movie will have good effect to the viewers. It can inspire lots of people. It can also encourage them how to win life. and to believe in yourself always.
7.What specifically i like?dislike? why?
I like the attitude of the main character in the movie. Pi was the kind of person that everyone wants to be. The way he face life was very encouraging.the story of his life let's me realize something new in life which I will always remember.
8.Are there any aspects of the theme which are left ambiguous at the end? why?
For me, the ambiguous part is the friendship that Pi and Tiger had shared. I was expecting that it will be a start for both of them. that the tiger won't leave Pi. But still, the over all story was very beautiful and tells a lot about reality in life.
9. How these film relate nto the things that one happening in your life?
I can say that not all the people or any of the people experience what Pi had gone through.But Pi's feeling empty, alone and helpless was very common in other people in just different way. Sometimes we feel this kind of emotions if some of our love ones left us. We feel helpless when we have some problems that no one can help us and all we want is ti give up. all of these are really happening in everyone of us and it depend on us if we choose to be brave and believe what we can like the main character did in the movie.
