Despite its popular appeal on the international stage, Life of Pi remains a bit of an “also ran” among critics in their year-end lists as well as on the awards circuit. A couple folks with publications behind their names ranked the film as their favorite, and many have mentioned it among their top ten. But if you ask me, there’s very little separating Life of Pi from the perceived front runners. It’s as engaging as Lincoln, as heartfelt as Silver Linings Playbook, and as cerebral as Zero Dark Thirty. It’s emotions may not run as deep as Les Miserables, but they ring true and fierce.
It deserves the attention these films have received. It is deceptively another one of those Cast Away type movies where the protagonist braves the elements and eventually is saved and gets his life back, blah blah blah. This one has a lot more going on though. The character of Pi is delightfully curious and relatable. The scenes where he protects himself against being bullied for his full name, which sounds like “pissing,” are beautifully handled. It’s his emotion, and the performance by newcomer Suraj Sharma, that helps make the CGI animals real for us. The premise of the story is that it will make you believe in God, and so the religious purpose of the movie is clear, and in the end, effective. Framing religion as a type of story people use to explain their relationship with the world, the immediate and the intangible, is a fresh way of approaching the issue that movies seldom address in an intelligent way.
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