Going for a different flavour of films this week, I'm going to be talking about films with Animals in them, so the film can be a comedy, romance, thriller, sci-fi, horror whatever genre just as long as its got an Animal in it. Today we're gonna talk about this beauty of a film, as its so beautiful and breathtaking and as a person who loves animals of all species its great to watch a film with so much diversity and culture.
Now the film Life of Pi is about the life of Piscine who is visited by an author called Yann Martel (who wrote the novel the film was based off) and thinks Pi's life is worth writing a book about. His family owns a zoo and moves to Canada to settle and sell the animals until a shipwreck happens and Pi gets on a lifeboat, along with a Zebra with a broken leg as he lands, an Orangutan, Hygena and a Tiger from his childhood called Richard Parker. From there he has to survive and cope with the conditions he faces in the middle of the ocean and taking care of four animals.
What I like about this film is that its so aesthetically pleasing, its filmed in Taiwan and its so beautiful you can't believe its real, like theres a place that's so breathtaking you only imagine it in story books. The animals that were used in the film were again just so beautiful and stunning, I love animals already but the close ups of them and to see the whites in there eyes and see them as characters rather than just accessories. Because a lot of films that involve animals, they don't take them as characters with thoughts and feelings and that's hard to do as you can't give them dialogue and they usually say never work with kids, and animals as typically they can do what they want. But with this film the animals are just as if not more important than the human characters.
I guess it could be to do with the Hindu aspect of the film, religion plays a big part in this film but it does it in a really nice way that's not too shouty and in your face about it. Pi was bought up with a Hindu family, and when Pi was 12 he was introduced to the views of belief by Christianity and Islam and from there he decided to follow all three. I think that's very open minded and gives total freedom to everyone who wishes to follow a belief. Hinduism plays a big part of the film as from what I know about Hinduism is that they believe animals and creatures deserve respect, hence why there's a lot of Vegetarians.
This film was directed by Ang Lee who is such a brilliant filmmaker it was obvious this story had to be created on screen by him, he completely understood the plot and the elements of this story and even though I haven't read the book yet, so I guess what I could be saying is blissfully ignorant. The Actors who have played Pi from childhood to adulthood are all so amazing, especially teenage Pi who spent months on that boat and it was his first proper role and a total newcomer. Thats another thing I love about this film is that Ang Lee didn't choose a huge actor who already had a big following, he chose an Actor who was everything Pi was despite his background.
Cinematography in this film is just stunning, I need to go to Taiwan now. The animals were beautiful from the animals in the zoo to the animals that kept Pi company on the boat in the middle of the ocean and the meerkats on the island that Pi and Richard Parker end up on, thats another character I love Richard Parker, he was so gorgeous and really symbolises Pi's journey as at the beginning Pi's fascinated by Richard but Richard is a typical tiger and sees him as an another human. As it goes on they bond and in some ways Richard kinda adopts Pi and brings him and turns him into a man especially with the connection Richard has with Pi's father at the beginning.
I'm going to end this post on this gif, and I love what Pi's saying about religion its a million different doors and rooms so why rent a room when you can buy a house with different rooms. The animals are the real stars of this film as you can see all the emotions of there face, like what they're thinking how they're feeling all the things when it comes to Acting with humans. It shows animals how I see them, and I do believe that they are such beautiful, intelligent creatures who I'm sure could speak would have a lot to say. All I can about this film is that, it really affected me and nailed what I think about religion and animals. You should definitely watch this film, and I need to read the book now as the film is beautiful the book is usually better. Anyway I'll see you all on Wednesday and have a lovely morning/afternoon/evening/night wherever you are!
