Life of Pi – Film Review

‘Life of Pi’ is an incredible story, based on the novel by Yann Martel, it tells a story of a young boy finding his spirituality as he is growing up in India. We follow Piscine Molitor ‘Pi’ Patel (Suraj Sharma) through his religions until his family are forced to sell the zoo they run and re-locate to Canada because of financial problems. After the sinking of the cargo ship they are traveling on Pi is left stranded on a life boat with a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, a female orang-utan , and a Bengal tiger.
Although initially slow to start with, once stranded on the boat with Pi, the film creates a real sense of unity between man and animal. With the brilliant acting of Suraj Sharma you relate to his character, and let’s face it, there isn’t many of us who understand what it’s like to be stranded on a boat with a tiger.
Directed by Ang Lee, they is some truly awe inspiring moments, especially with the availability of 3D viewing. On top of the truly amazing CGI, honestly there couldn’t be one person leaving the cinema not saying they wanted a tiger. Transferred from book to film with respect for the novel by David Magee, from both screenplay and direction there is an amazing use between the body language of the tiger and the few words spoken to him by Pi.
All in all an extremely good film and well worth watching, fully deserving of all the award nominations.