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The Life of Pi Shines Onscreen

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When I was in secondary school in '74, my English teacher had me read this wonderful book called Lord of the Flies. (I know, who didn't?) William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island left a lasting impression.

After our class finished studying the novel we were rewarded with a viewing of the '63 film version. I was so disappointed. The misinterpretation of my imagination of Golding's characters was more horrifying than the incidents portrayed on celluloid!


Ang Lee's film corrects the faults of the book and makes the old Lord of the Flies look like a TV movie of the week in comparison. How often does that happen?

Martel's tale involves a gripping story with odd similarities to Golding's. This time, a young boy is shipwrecked -- the sole survivor of the sinking of a cargo ship -- and must survive on a small lifeboat drifting in the middle of the desert-like Pacific Ocean. It also explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of the Pacific Ocean.

Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Martel The Man Booker Prize. But the mistake Martel made in his novel that Golding didn't was getting in the way of his own story.

While it's completely fine to have his main character Pi recount of his journey: "My greatest wish -- other than salvation -- was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time." Pg 230, when Martel, in his own author's notes preceding his tale, states that this is "a story to make you believe in God," his bold claim smacks of self-importance, an author setting up high expectations in his audience, or perhaps a less-than-subtle subliminal wish? I'd say all of the above.

Perhaps some readers and moviegoers are like me -- we just want to read and witness a good story told well. We don't want to analyze every possible scenario. ie. Does the Tiger really exist? Is Pi's journey just carefully constructed representations of Sigmund Freud's Id, Ego and Superego?

You get my drift?

Whereas, Martel's novel left me adrift (pun intended) and told me what to think, Lee wisely, with astounding precision, pares down the novel's drama and proselytizing .

What both the novel and film share are parts that are so moving, so exhilarating, so extraordinary that the reader/viewer is left to catch their breath .

Lee takes digital 3-D technology and takes it to a whole new level of art form.

And I love the Canadian connection. Yann Martel, the child of diplomats, grew up in Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Alaska and Canada and now lives in Montreal. His protagonist Pi ends up working in Montreal as well.

Unlike Lord of the Flies, I didn't want to read Life of Pi again and again. Yet I concede Martel cooked up one hell of a good story.

Oh, by the way, the novel didn't "make" me believe in God. Nevertheless, thank God Ang Lee made it into one of the best movies of 2012.