Had a wonderful Mother's Day Sunday, grilled out with my mother and then took my wife (for her 1st Mom's Day) out shopping. Then yesterday she and I went out to eat as well (and of course more shopping).
Sunday night my 'rents grabbed a couple flicks from the box de la Red and we sat down to multiple award winning "Life of Pi." My sister tried to convince us it was actually pronounced Life of Pea but we made fun of her and looked it up online, confirming its actually Life of Pie.
Fascinating movie which I probably won't watch again if I have the choice mainly because it was grounded on not knowing what was going to happen, knowing the ending makes the rest of it rather superfluous and not very exciting. There were several deep philosophical and religious questions addressed to which I will commit a few words.
While I'm sure militant atheists had a explanation for the film, in most cases it assumed God. Not only did it assume God but the writer doing the interview is under the impression the story will make him believe in God. Something the story-teller is dubious about and gives the quote "I can only tell you the story, you must decide what to believe in." (Saxon's revised version.) Their conclusion, essentially the climax of the movie, is that God, or a belief in a god (faith), makes the world and the suffering therein endurable. That the story with the Tiger is better than the story without it. Truth is better served with a dose of the supernatural.
The religious pluralism was anything but subtle in the film. Your main character is a Catholic Hindu who preforms Salah (the Muslim prayers) and teaches a course on Jewish culture or the law I don't remember precisely which. You could suggest the author was endeavoring to make him relatable to a person of any faith. However, it was the faith of pluralism, something I think inherent in the Hindu religion, which was preached by our hero. The are many roads to God and Pi happened to take most of them. I half expected him to have a pagan-tribal experience and "find God" there too.
The way nature led Pi to God was a theme throughout. The 2nd storm which nearly killed them both reminded me of the book of Job in which God is asked "what else do I need to do to alleviate this suffering?" The answer was similar in the movie as in the Book, silence. God tells Job, not what to do, but who He is, teaching him and us that God's will is best because of who He is not what He does (we draw the conclusion from the end of the story that God's will ends up good for Job too, but that's not the validation of God's argument just a reassuring caveat). Pi, I think, was to understand God is the power of that storm and the life given to him is a gift easily taken. This lesson is evidently learned when he reaches the island. Which in the symbolic story is carnivorous but in reality I believe was where he knew he'd die alone. The island may not actually eat him, but it would take any chance he'd have of a life worth living; the life God had miraculously given him. Still haven't figured out the meaning of the tooth. Again connecting to Job, at the end of the movie you see Pi's family and the life he's enjoying now, seemingly better than anything he'd had before. God had brought him through the storm, tested his faith, and rewarded him with a blessed life.
Along with that, the inner tiger was a theme. Each of us, according to this film, in my opinion, have a young man and a tiger within us. The young man is innocent and trusting; the tiger is violent and resourceful. Without the tiger Pi would've been eaten by the cook. Without the young man, Pi would be disconnected from the world, a killer driven only to survive and not to live. Interestingly, the young man trusts the carnivorous island while his survival instinct (the tiger) runs and hides on the boat. Same response to the storm, Pi rips open the boat cover and stares full on into the storm (God) while his instincts run and hide. His inner killer is afraid of God. While these may be coincidences from the writer's standpoint, I like them and think they are great symbols. Possibly a dichotomy of Soul (Pi) and Mind (Tiger) one driven by the supernatural the other by logic/rationality/instinct. Remember, Pi admits Richard Parker didn't have a soul but pleads with the viewer (and the writer) to believe there's more than just natural machinery to animals and by extension human beings.
Being afraid of water and lacking any ability to swim beyond a doggy paddle for a few feet, I would've died about 5 minutes into the movie. Trapped on a raft in the ocean is virtually the most terrifying thing possible, I'd have taken my chances with Richard Parker in the boat and gotten eaten.
Next time, if something doesn't pop up, I'll write about some of my observations regarding Demonology.
My Braves broke out of a slump (lost 5 of 6) in a big way yesterday pounding the D-Backs. The offense has settled into a bit of an inconsistent up-and-down pattern. Getting JHey back healthy will help, Mac has been raking. JUpton and CJ2.0 for MVPrado, Delgado and a minor-leaguer will go down in Braves trade lore history. What a move Frank! One of these posts, when I can't think of anything philosophical, I'll lay out my novel ideas regarding baseball and why I should be a GM. As was once said, "There are three things every man thinks he can do better than anyone else: drive, run a hotel and manage a baseball team."
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