Life of Pi (2012)
USA, China; 127min
Adventure, Drama 
Director: Ang Lee 
Writer: David Magee, Yann Martel (novel) 
Stars: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain

Crudely, Life of Pi is a story about a shipwreck of a young Indian who survives 277 days on the Pacific Ocean in a rescue boat with a tiger, but the core of the film is much deeper, though equally simple.

This Ang Lee's adaptation of the novel by Canadian writer Yann Martel's caused a great deal of skepticism among readers of novel, primarily because of exceptional difficulty of screening story like this, but most agree that movie is more than successful.

 The story is told by an adult Pi, who is telling the story to a Canadian writer who is in creative crisis and in search of a story. Pi first describes his childhood in the former French region of India, where his father run a ZOO and where he met with wild animals, but also with a question of faith, which he understood very broadly, so he from an early age began to practice three religions. After some time because of economic reasons, his family decided to move to Canada, where they intended to sell animals and begin new lives so they board to Japanese cargo ship. The heart of Pi's story begins with a flood of that ship.

Only survivors of shipwreck are Pi, a zebra, orangutan, hyena and Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Of course, very soon the only remaining survivors are Pi and the tiger. Two of them begin with sharpened relationship, but that is slowly changing.

Seemingly banal and really simple story that strikes deep and in the simplest possible way brings the question of faith in a dilemma. Until the very end film acts as a simple adventure and as such would not be a failure, but it would be one of those quickly forgotten movies and it's a shame to watch it in that way.

Ang Lee has done an excellent job. The visual impression is fantastic, but in this context comes the biggest criticism. Few scenes are only there because of the visual impression, and eventually these trips are becoming boring, and there is a impression that it would not hurt that the movie is a bit shorter. Camera work is also great, for a big amount of scenes there is hardly a better way to capture them. The scene of sinking ship is one of most memorable scenes filmed lately. Such visualization combined with superb music also creates a very good atmosphere.

Interestingly, although most of the animals were done via CGI, four live tigers were used in the shooting.

Suraj Sharma, who plays Pi during a shipwreck, is fantastic and it's hardly to believe that this is his first acting role, but after this performance it's surely not the last.

At the very end of the movie, Pi makes a little twist in which he put's Canadian writer and viewers in a doubt, and brings a question of faith, religion and art in only few lines.

Definitely one of the best films of the 2012.

Life of Pi je banalno priča o brodolomu mladog Indijca koji preživi 277 dana na Tihom oceanu u spasilačkom čamcu sa tigrom, ali srž filma je puno dublja, iako jednako jednostavna

Ova Ang Leeva ekranizacija istoimenog romana kanadskog pisca Yann Martela je pri svojoj objavi izazvala veliku dozu skeptičnosti čitatelja Martelova djela, prvenstveno zbog izrazite težine ekraniziranja ovakve priče, ali mora se priznati da je film i više nego uspješan.

Priča je ispričana kroz usta odraslog Pia kanadskom piscu koji je u autorskoj krizi te u potrazi za pričom. Pi prvo opisuje svoje djetinjstvo u bivšem francuskom dijelu Indije gdje njegov otac vodi zološki vrt i gdje se već kao dijete upoznaje sa divljim životinjama, ali i pitanjem vjere koje on shvaća izrazito široko, pa od malih nogu počinje prakticirati tri religije. Nakon nekog vremena se iz ekonomskih razloga obitelj odlučuje preseliti u Kanadu gdje odluče i prodati životinje te kreću na put na japanskom teretnom brodu. Sama srž Pieve priče počinje potopom toga broda.

Brodolom preživaljvaju Pi, zebra, orangutan, hijena i bengalski tigar zvučnog imena Richard Parker. Naravno, vrlo brzo jedini preživjeli ostaju Pi i tigar i to u naoštrenom odnosu, koji se polako mijenja.

Naizgled stvarno banalna i jednostavna priča koja udara duboko i na najjednostavniji mogući način dovodi pitanje vjere u nedoumicu. Do samoga kraja film djeluje kao jednostavna avantura i kao takav ne bi bio neuspjeh, ali bi bio jedan od onih zaboravljivih filmova, te ga je šteta na takav način gledati.

Ang Lee je posao odradio izvrsno. Vizualni dojam je fantastičan, ali u tom kontekstu dolazi i najveća kritika. Više scena je tu samo zbog vizualnog dojma, te s vremenom takvi izleti postaju dosadni, a i ostaje dojam da ne bi bolilo da je film i dosta kraći. Rad kamerom je također za svaku pohvalu, za dosta scena teško da postoji bolji način snimanja dok je scena potapljanja broda jedna od najupečatljivijih u zadnje vrijeme. Takva vizualizacija u kombinaciji sa izvrsnom glazbom stvara i izvrsnu atmosferu.

Zanimljivo, iako je većina životinja odrađena preko CGI-a, čak su četiri prava tigra korištena u snimanju.

Fantastičnom Suraj Sharmi, koji tumači Pia u doba brodoloma, je ovo prvi izlet u glumačke vode, ali nakon ovakve izvedbe zasigurno ne i zadnji.
Na samom kraju filma Pi u priči radi obrat u kojem Kanadskog pisca i gledatelje dovodi u dvojbu i u samo nekoliko rečenica iznosi pitanje vjere, religije i umjetnosti.

Definitivno jedan od najboljih filmova 2012. godine.