The Life of Pi

The life of Pi is a story that comments on religion and the horrors of being shipwrecked. Though completely fictional, an actual shipwreck survivor was consulted while making the screen adaptation, to ensure that there was a sense of accuracy. Though Pi was stranded at sea for less than a year, the longest a real shipwreck survivor has lasted was a full 14 months.

This movie is a fantastical story akin to the grand tales from classic Indian folklore and religious stories, created with the same intention of inspiring a moral question and leaving the viewer to answer for themselves. It follows Pi on his journey in a life boat out on the open ocean, with the company of a tiger, a zebra, a hyena, and an orangutan. After a tragic and grandiose adventure, spanning 227 days, Pi is reunited with civilization on the beaches of Mexico. After which he’s asked many questions about his adventure, but no one wants to believe his story, so he retells it with people and cannibalism in place of animals.

Many gods are mentioned throughout the movie, starting with Krishna, who he says first introduced him to Christianity. Hanuman, the monkey god, and Vishnu, the supreme soul, are also mentioned.

In the beginning of the movie we see that Pi has a fairly religious mother, and a scientifically minded father. Pi’s father instills reason in him, teaching him a harsh lesson at the top of the movie by having him witness a goat being ate by a tiger, to show that animals are not to be trusted as friends.

Pi’s defining characteristic is that he wants to know god, but he doesn’t believe in only following a single religion. The main message of the book/film is drawn from this, being that you must find god for yourself, and that perhaps sometimes the truth is better not known. Perhaps sometimes the more interesting story is the one that ought be told.