Life of Pi is Misunderstood

This video is brought to you by Mubi, a curated streaming service that showcases exceptional movies from around the world. get a full month free at mubi.com quality culture When I first saw the trailer for the 2012 film, Life of Pi, about 10 years ago, I remember being confused by the premise but intrigued by this unusual interpretation of a story of castaways, the visual effects alone won me over, but I was also curious to find out how they were going to achieve this, as if the whole movie was really about a boy stranded on a

life

boat in the ocean with a Bengal tiger well, it turns out that the answer is yes and no, yes, as most of it focuses on this outlandish scenario and how it plays out, but even when it addresses the topic of physical survival like most castaway stories, it's simply as much about spiritual survival, but it approaches the concept in a way I've never seen before, using a curious mix of zoology and theology to explore matters of the soul.

It is based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Jan Martel, a short story by the author. It's called an adventure of the body and spirit, although one thing I've noticed over the years is that most discussions focus on the ambiguous ending. An Older Pie spends most of the story recounting these fantastical events, but in the end offers an alternate story that is even more horrifying, but seems more plausible in the real world, so naturally there are ongoing debates about which one. It was the real story and why, mainly, it is concluded that the animals thing was invented.

In any case, most of the conversation considers the question of what it is. the truth, but at its core the

life

of pi is ultimately about the power of telling stories about why so many people take a proverbial leap of faith every day in this video i want to explain why, for the sake of the story standing, the truth is not. No matter in the first few minutes, we immediately become familiar with how outlandish stories enrich our lives. You see, my uncle Francisco was born with too much water in his lungs. They say that the doctor turned Francisco by the ankles to clear the water and that is what gave him the huge chest and thin legs that made him a great swimmer.

He obtained the full name he piscine molotov patel from a French swimming pool visited by a family friend, honorary uncle, a competitive swimmer who had praised the glorious qualities of the pool, mythologizing it. This foreign pool made Pai's father fall in love with a place he had never seen before and in his amazement he named his son that name. I never understood why my father took this so seriously, but he did as PCN grew up and was cruel to his classmates. became more creative built his own narrative out of social necessity usually rounded to three digits like 3.14 pi the point is that the value of influential storytelling is rooted in the heart of pi's life even the author's note at the beginning of the book makes it seem as if what you're about to read is a real interview documented by the writer, blurring the line between reality and fiction.

Pai's imagination and curiosity are the main components of his character and are what led him to practice three religions. I know religion is a controversial topic. topic, but Pi's life has less to do with institutional religion, which definitely comes with problems with it, and more to do with religion as a personal spiritual practice. There is a certain lack of cynicism about pi's approach to faith. He fell in love with the stories that each religion offered and learned about them for the first time. faith and vegetarianism through hinduism with colorful tales about its thousands of gods the gods were my superheroes growing up vishnu the supreme soul the source of all things when he encountered catholicism, on the other hand, at first he was confused by the apparent weakness of the god of Christianity but we soon came to value the underlying message in the story of Christ, we cannot understand God in all his perfection but we cannot understand the son of God and his suffering as we would have brothers and finally Pai discovered Islam appreciating the qualities deeply devotional and meditative of his prayer when performing salah, the ground i touched became holy ground and i found a feeling of serenity and brotherhood for pi and many other people, faith is rooted in love for others, self, the universe and existence, is used as a means to connect with their communities and families and their individual place in the world how they express gratitude for the joys of life and face the pain of adversity as the book describes the individual soul touching the soul of the world like a well reaches the water table that sustains the universe beyond thought and language and what is at the center of us and struggles to express itself is the same the finite within the infinite the infinite within the finite I am not particularly religious but I believe that if you have ever heard the echoes of a choir in a cathedral, the melodic prayers of an imam or seen the vibrant colors and dances at a sacred festival, it is easy to be moved by the gravity and vitality of the human spirit and how we come together to celebrate life again, without trying to downplay it. or dismiss the negative, but for most normal people who go about their business and live with love in their hearts, that is not all that religion is or has to be in research for the book, Jan Martel initially was trying to understand why people in the modern world would still choose to believe in the gods and hold on to faith despite having no tangible evidence now, like his pastel protagonist, he considers himself non-denominational and respects every belief, that doesn't mean that does not criticize organized religion when appropriate, but defends the religion's positive manifestations of faith as an act of love and perhaps, above all, martel's comments on the narrative power of religion, there is a theological dimension to the narrative of stories, all religions tell stories and why do you know why not all religions are just ten commandments?

Well, I think it's because stories involve imagination and how we take reality involves imagination and what I like about religion is the same thing what I like about art art transforms your existence it changes who you are you look at reality differently the Religion does the same thing as you read about Krishna you try to emulate him, you try to be like Krishna, so you are looking at life through the lens of Krishna and that changes, it really changes your reality. You're a different person for doing that, but of course, pyramid on some external problems by juggling this trio of beliefs, your secular. my father thought it was a bit strange, you only need to convert to three more religions to be seen and you will spend your life on vacation and the pai community wasn't thrilled either.

The book's notes informed my parents about my religious activities quietly. Urgent tones of betrayal were revealed, as if this narrow-mindedness did God some good. Later, upon discovering what Pai was doing, his three religious mentors argued among themselves about the fault of each other's religions. Pai told everyone that, like Gandhi, he felt that all religions are true. Everyone had something to offer. Faith is a house with many rooms, but there is no room for doubt. Oh, there's plenty on each floor. Doubt is useful. Keeps faith as something alive. After all, you can't know the strength of your faith until it has been tested. us to the lifeboat in the pacific janmartel said in a pbs interview that the idea of ​​a religious child in a lifeboat with a wild animal seemed like a perfect metaphor for the human condition, humans aspire to really high things like religion, justice, democracy at the same time.

We are rooted in our human animal condition and that is why all those gathered in a lifeboat seemed to me the perfect metaphor: the Pai family owned and operated a zoo in Pondicherry, India, lending to the central ideas of zoology mixed with theology how hard They are scientific facts. It can coexist with faith and religious principles. Pai's father tried to maintain a sense of scientific reason in his family, even going so far as to have his children watch the tiger kill a goat to prove that wild animals are not our friends and he is right, of course.

When you look into his eyes, you see your own emotions reflected back to you. As Pai's family moved to Canada, transporting some zoo animals along the way, a shipwreck left him lost at sea with a hyena, an orangutan, and a zebra. , obviously it was not necessary. He longed for chaos to ensue and the hyena killed both the zebra and the orangutan before meeting his end when the bengal tiger richard parker was finally revealed in the story the tiger's name arose from a clerical error when cersei grew too big the hunter lo sold to our zoo, but the names were changed on paperwork In real life, Martel used the name Richard Parker because it had a strange recurring appearance in cases of nautical cannibalism, first in a fictional Edgar Allan Poe novel and then in two cases very real where the crew ate the cabin boy after the shipwreck personal note never be a cabin boy anyway the tiger's name was a small foreshadowing of the cannibalism that arose later in pastel's life there were other hints of pastel's fate sprinkled both in the movie as in the book, mentions of other stories and authors that inspired pai's fight to survive the mysterious island the stranger underground notes max and the cats treasure island robinson crusoe's seven month journey standing in this lifeboat trying of taking care of himself and a 450 pound tiger, unsurprisingly, offered some time for introspection somehow his journey seemed like a pilgrimage to reach an even stronger level of faith, to quote the novel, I practiced religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances, they gave me comfort, that is true, but it was difficult, faith in God is not opening an abandonment. a deep trust a free act of love but sometimes it was so hard to love despair it was a heavy blackness that didn't let light in or out it was hell beyond all expression I thank god it always passed the blackness stirred and eventually left and god would still be a bright spot of light in my heart i would still love eventually he and richard arrived no, i can't just call him richard that doesn't feel quite right eventually he and richard parker arrived at perhaps the most unlikely chapter in their story, a massive network of algae inhabited by thousands of meerkats where the soil and pools of water turned acidic at night, effectively turning it into a floating carnivorous island.

By the way, I'd love to hear your opinion on what this island is supposed to represent. Because there are so many theories out there and I haven't latched on to any in particular, this one is particularly morbid, but a lot of people believe it anyway after Pi found a human tooth and decided he didn't want the same fate as him. I left again with Richard Parker. I saw how my life would end if I stayed alone on that island and forgot that I had to return to the world or die trying, depending on appearances. It seems that quite some time passed before they finally landed in Mexico, where.

Richard Parker left unceremoniously and Pai was eventually rescued, so why didn't she leave the tiger on Meerkat Island? Well, by that time Richard Parker had become essential to Pai's will to live and it also makes a little more sense when we consider the To begin with, the idea that the tiger was never there was alone in a drifting lifeboat. across the pacific ocean and survived as I mentioned in the introduction. This wasn't the only version of Pi's journey after he was found and told the original story in Japanese. The researchers claimed it was too incredible, so Pai told them a story that was a little easier to believe: one where the hyena was the cook who had treated them cruelly on the ship, where the zebra was the kind sailor, and the orangutan It was Pai's own mother.

In this version, the cook killed and cannibalized the sailor and then killed Pai's mother out of anger and Pi was the tiger that killed and ate the cook in an act of revenge and also an act of survival. He was such an evil man, but even worse. brought out the evil in me, i have to live with it, richard parker can be seen as pi's coping mechanism after deep trauma represents two metaphors at once an embodiment of divinity that is a being beyond our human understanding creating a narrative where the animal becomes the divine, zoology and theology intertwine while representing the survival instincts of pai or the animal condition as martel described it.

No wonder Richard Parker emerged in the lifeboat when Pie finally resisted the hyena and just when Pie no longer needed this instinct to live, Richard Parker disappeared into the Mexican jungle, never to be seen again. I appreciated that although it may or may not have been real, they never anthropomorphized the tiger and made him Pie's best friend. The story isIn the end, you know my father was right, Richard Parker never saw me as his friend after everything we had been through, he didn't even look back, but Pai needed to believe that there was something more. even in the face of immense suffering and his own act of cannibalism.

He didn't want to give in to his animal condition he wanted to keep his faith alive so he cried and prayed after killing a fish and seeing the life come out of his body he wrote a diary until he was lost in a storm he saved Richard Parker Life after looking at him eyes I needed Richard Parker to be more than an animal in order to believe that he was more than an animal and that his humanity was still intact, but I have to believe that there was more to his eyes than my own reflection looking back at him.

I know, I felt it even if I can't prove it and I think not being able to say goodbye to Richard Parker haunted Pai's memories because it painfully reflected his inability to say goodbye to his family, I guess in the end everything life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye, ultimately I needed this story because it was something to hold on to in the face of immeasurable pain and hopelessness, there are times when reason provides no comfort. When comfort is what is needed most, as Pai said in the novel, if I had considered my prospects in the light of reason, I would surely have given up and let the ore go in the hope of drowning before being eaten.

If I'm honest, I'd probably leave it. Go too if I were in that situation with nothing greater to pin my hopes on with your entire family dead, no rescue in sight, hungry and left alone to maintain your will, it seems like you would need a purpose beyond mere reason, that it makes me think. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs because of the way this pyramidal framework is not really supported in contemporary psychology and should be seen more as a general scheme, but it is still worth examining starting with our basic physical needs such as foundation, food, shelter, safety and then their psychological needs. which we often derive from participation in social groups and at the top are the more complex needs for personal fulfillment where we feel we are living up to our potential as an individual.

This is the version most people are familiar with, but later in life it was Maslow. tinkering to add a new vertex to the pyramid of self-transcendence where self-realization evolves to see ourselves as a part of a larger universe, so that our understanding of existence transcends our independent experience. He describes self-transcendence as peak experiences that he defined. like feelings of limitless horizons opening up to vision, the feeling of being simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless than one had ever been before, the feeling of great ecstasy and wonder, awe, the loss of place in time and space, and finally the conviction that something extremely important and valuable had happened, so that the subject is to a certain extent transformed and strengthened even in his daily life by such experiences.

There is a passage in the life of pi along with some impressive shots from the film that recall these peak experiences, including the tendency to waver in transcendence the volume of things was confusing i felt half moved half terrified for the first time i realized, as I would realize repeatedly during my ordeal between one agonizing cast and the next, that my suffering was taking place on a grand stage I saw my suffering so it was finite and insignificant and still was my suffering didn't fit anywhere I I realized and was able to accept this, it was okay, it was the light of day that brought my protest, no, my suffering matters, I want to live, I can't help it, I mix my life with that of the universe, life like a peephole, a small entrance to an immensity, how could I not?

Can I stop at this brief and narrow vision that I have of things? This peephole is all I have, this all relates to Martell's vision of believing in a higher power in a meaning greater than ourselves, so I choose to believe that life has a transcendental meaning instead of a mere chemical meaning , mere horizontal and for me it just makes it a richer experience. It's true? Is it true in fact? Well I do not know. I know, but no one who has any kind of faith knows for sure when you have faith in something, it's just a willingness to be open and trust and move forward in that way and it's also a way that makes suffering more bearable.

If you think that somehow you don't fully understand that it doesn't make logical sense somehow things make sense then suffering is a small part of the canvas of a bigger picture that you don't see, it doesn't diminish the suffering, but it puts it in context. , so pi rejected brutal realism in favor of the better story, but the point is that we have a choice, there is an equivalent lack of hard evidence for both, all we have is pi's testimony, so for pi It's not about what. We think it's about what we would prefer to believe in the same way that people get caught up in the question of which religion is the ultimate truth.

His interviewers got caught up in questioning which version of the cake story is true, although in the end it made no difference. As a result, we are no closer to understanding why ships rattle because I don't know. The version with Richard Parker is how Pie ​​chose to interpret the story of his own suffering, admitting that he would have died if it weren't for Richard's sense of purpose. Parker told him that he didn't make a tangible difference what really happened, so the truth was irrelevant in both stories, the ship sings, my family dies and I suffer, so which story do you prefer?

So for Martel Pie, choose to believe in the best story. Parallel to religious faith, why not believe that someone loves you transcendentally? Why not believe that and why not live that way to entertain the notion that the operating principle of the universe is love? Reason to improve your life, but once reason fails you, why not believe in this great plan? You know this great cosmic plan where the ultimate fulfillment is this massive act of love. Why not? I think it is quite useless to apply the concept of truth to questions of spirituality as Martel mentioned that we all interpret reality differently, as long as it doesn't cause harm, what difference does it make to others?

What stories bring us comfort. I know some people might say that's the same as lying to yourself, but that's not really what I mean. Pie knows which story is more believable and why he is not delusional or irrational, but he personally prefers the story that gives him more room to face the pain and continue living with love in his heart. Even Japanese researchers eventually decided they would rather believe the story. story with the bengal tiger thank you and so it goes with God so one thing that I couldn't talk much about in this video is the beautiful depictions of India in the first act of the film and I think just to separate myself from that . more people should give some love to Indian cinema if they want to delve deeper into international art films. our sponsor mubi is a great place to explore hundreds of titles mubi is a curated streaming service, a place to watch beautiful, interesting and incredible cinema every day, new movie releases.

New films, from iconic directors to emerging auteurs, there's always something new to discover with Mubi. Each and every film is hand selected. It's like your own personal film festival that streams anytime, anywhere. I recently saw Sudet Rise. The last film he directed is about a family who is unexpectedly visited by a man who claims to be the long-lost uncle of the woman he hasn't seen in decades. The family is obviously suspicious and doesn't really know how to handle the situation. The tension. It was really palpable and even made me feel cautious and distrustful. Another thing I really enjoyed is that, like Life of Pie, it's a lot about storytelling and what we choose to believe, of course the so-called uncle could be selling a false story, but he also spends a lot of time telling the family stories about their travels and experiences and worldviews that are really different from the way they choose to live; some scenes remind me of a play in the best way where there is a lot of time spent thinking. provoking dialogues on topics such as philosophy, religion and politics.

This is not Rye's only film on mubi, so I hope to explore his other works along with many other Indian and international cinema films, and if you would like to do the same. you can try mubi free for 30 days on mubi.com Qualityculture that's mubi.com quality for a whole month of great free cinema thanks for watching and see you next time, bye.