LIFE OF PI EMBRACES THE HUMAN YEARNING FOR GOD, FOR THE ETERNAL
By Ronan Wright on January 19th, 2013
Is it possible to make someone believe in God just by telling them a story? I’m not so sure. But a good story can certainly make someone want to believe. Or at the very least believe in the storyteller.
I’m not sure I’d go quite so far as to say Life of Pi will make you believe in God. Certainly the story at the heart of the film is inspiring, fictional or not. But I do think anyone would be hard pushed to watch this and not be convinced that belief in God is better than the alternative.
Life of Pi is a film like no other. It is so refreshing to see a film come out of Hollywood that is not afraid to embrace man’s search for meaning. The human yearning for God, for the eternal. It’s fair to say, whatever your religion, faith is not at the top of the agenda in Hollywood. And yet here we have a film which bucks the trend.
One of the contenders for this years Best Picture Oscar, Life of Pi has a good chance of taking home some awards. Not only are the visuals stunning but the story telling which makes use of them is second to none.
It’s hard to believe that a single actor in a boat with a adult Bengal Tiger could constitute the guts of a box-office hit and a critic’s favourite but Life of Pi has done just that.
If you like your movies entertaining, visually engaging and with plenty of heart then Life of Pi is a must see and is my pick for best picture at this year’s Oscars. It is the first film I’ve seen since Terrance Malik’s Tree of Life which has had a good go at stirring us out of our materialistic, one-dimensional viewing habits.
If you’re worried that Life of Pi is a film which attempts to flog any particular religion over another, it’s not. It is a human story in the truest sense of the word.
Where faith and reason meet there is more room for doubt in our world today than ever before. As our cinema and our society grows more disillusioned by the day, we need movies which offers us more than escapism.
In today’s world we need films which respond positively to hope as opposed to taking the easy option and giving into the temptation to cynicism. We need our filmmakers to recognise the fundamental human longing for happiness by acknowledging the very reasonable search for answers to life’s defining questions.
Who are we? Why are here? We don’t need Hollywood to give us the answers to these questions but it wouldn’t hurt to think about them more often as a cinema-going community.
Life of Pi is one of the few films in recent years to sensibly and unashamedly confront its audience with the real value of faith by challenging our assumptions about what religion is and what it means to be religious. The word ‘religion’ means relationship, so religion is simply man’s relationship with God.
Life of Pi frames this relationship in an unbelievable story of adventure and survival and asks the audience to suspend their disbelief long enough to consider if it is not entirely reasonable to put our faith in God? Even in the most unreasonable of circumstances.
January 20th, 2013 at 3:18 am
Fine look at this, Ronan. I definitely have this one on my radar. Thanks.
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Ronan Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 10:24 pm
Thanks Michael! Well worth a look.
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January 30th, 2013 at 11:56 pm
Hi Ronan! The spiritual theme definitely drew me in to see this. I think it’s great to see God being portrayed in a positive light and from the eyes of an honest seeker. However, in the end the filmmaker (or the author of the book) paints God as being so abstract that I don’t really see the ‘relationship’ being portrayed here.
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Ronan Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 10:26 pm
Yet again you cut through all my platitudes with your sharp eye Ruth. I have to agree with your analysis and yet I still felt the film at least addressed that relationship without irony.
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February 11th, 2013 at 8:14 pm
While this movie certainly bucks some of the usual Hollywood trends, it is not unlike many hotly-tipped Best Picture nominees for its philosophical or political themes. There is much talk of God, but also “which God”, as well as the importance of critical thinking and not taking everything on faith. At its core this beautiful film is about a wonderful story and asks the viewer which story they want to believe: the one which is stunning, hard to believe and fantastical, or the harsh reality and the one firmly grounded in the real work where things are not pleasant and happy.
It is about hope and faith. But most importantly about how we have a choice about what we believe and what we ignore, given the options. What do you choose to believe?
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Ronan Wright Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 10:26 pm
It is certainly a film about Hope. I think the most important thing I took away from the film was that reason and faith, rather than being in competition with each other, can compliment and enrich each other. Life of Pi suggests that it is in the light of human reason that we can understand divine revelation, engage with it and discover how and why it relates to us. I believe that I may understand and I understand the better to believe – St. Augustine
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February 13th, 2013 at 8:54 am
nice review, I didn’t get a chance to see it but it’s definitely on my must see list. I’ve always been a fan of ang lee just because he’s able to jump in from one genre to another seamlessly. that’s a rare gift.
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