Ang Lee 2013
Here
are a few questions.
When
surviving on the sea seems to be hopeless Pi offers himself to God, as if saying ‘your will be done’ and does so not in despair but almost in
exaltation. What does
this mean to you?
Pi
wants the tiger, Richard Parker, to be his friend, and on the life-boat he
treats him with deep respect. When
Richard Parker leaves him forever Pi mourns. What does that say to you about Pi?
At
the end of the film Pi tells another story, the one the Japanese officials
prefer. He asks the
author – and of course us - which we prefer. What is your preference?
Some
stories are true, factually. Some
stories are truthful,
they carry meanings that can be trusted even if they are not factual. We call some of these stories
myths, and some we call parables.
Could the Life of Pi be a parable?
And if so what truthfulness does it convey?
If
the second story is the factual truth how do you think it relates to the first
story?
Do
you have an inner Richard Parker?
If so, how do you feel about him?
Or her?
The author is told that Pi’s story
will ‘make him believe in God’.
What does that mean to you, having seen the
film?
And
here are a few thoughts – and more questions.
Ang
Lee’s film ‘The Life of Pi’,
based on Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winning novel, is first and foremost a spiritual
journey, both for its title
character, and for his witness.
The witness, Raph Spall, is
the author who has sought out the older Pi
, having been told that his story ‘will make him believe in God’.
We soon discover that no one religion can contain the
young Pi’s belief, as he learns to practice not only his native Hinduism, but
also Christianity and Islam. In a
passage from the book, not included in the film, Pi and his family are promenading along the Ponticherry sea
front when they are greeted by the Hindu Guru, the Catholic Priest and the
Muslim Imam, each of whom want to praise Pi for his faithfulness, but they find
them selves in noisy conflict over which faith has Pi’s true allegiance. His
father brings this rather unholy row to an end by exclaiming that ‘Pi only
wants to love God!”
To love something means to put our faith in it. I choose the word faith rather
than belief because beliefs can be intellectual, propositional and
dogmatic, whereas faith is more often visceral, emotional and adaptive.
So how could Pi’s subsequent story of shipwreck and
survival make us love and ‘put
our faith in God?’
At the end of the film we are presented with an
alternative story, one that may sound much more likely than the tale of the boy
and the tiger, and asked ‘which
do we prefer.’ Not believe, but prefer.
Do
we simply accept that life is arbitrary, violent and ultimately hopeless, as the second story suggests, with its
elements of murder and cannibalism? Or do we look for something other?
In
the film The Mission
Father Gabriel says ‘if might
is right then there is no room for God in our world’. He
is speaking in the light of God as mediated by Jesus, who showed us the vulnerable
and sacrificial face of God, the face of love. But at the end of the film we are confronted by the
Papal Nuncio, played by Ray MacAnally, the man who has sanctioned violence, but
who seems to be saying that, sadly, tragically, violence is sometimes
unavoidable, and when it is truly unavoidable we must accept responsibility for
it, and move on. Never for a
moment should we pretend that it is God’s preferred way, but understand that it
is a consequence of our own sinfulness. We must not consider it as normal, and must never get
addicted to it. Faith is not
about fantasy, but we must come to terms with reality, and still keep on
loving. Is this what Pi’s
journey is about?
Why does Pi want the tiger, Richard
Parker, to be his friend?
Could it be because he recognizes the instinctive reactions of the
tiger, admires his strength, and recognizes them as part of his own self, maybe
his id? In the second story
that Pi tells of his ordeal he does
indeed imitate the actions of the tiger. He does not condemn himself for doing so, but
when the ‘inner tiger’ is no longer needed for Pi’s survival he slinks back
into the jungle and does not look back. So maybe Pi recognized the necessity for the use of
power, when it is needed, and only when it is needed. Then we have to move on, and not ‘worship’ the
beast.
Earlier,
when Pi seems overwhelmed by the struggle to survive he offers himself to God,
as if saying ‘your
will be done’. Is he echoing Christ in the
Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross,
believing that God is love, and so God’s will may often be mysterious,
but it is never malignant. It is
as if he is saying ‘I have done everything I can, now it is over to you God,
and I will accept whatever that means.’
So
do we prefer the story that sounds ‘too good to be true’, or the story that sounds ‘too true to be good?'
Can
we accept both, while preferring, or putting our faith in, one?
Are
we condemned to believe that reality is dark, violent and hopeless, or can we
put our faith in a Universe that, despite it’s shadows, is ultimately shaped by
light and love, and choose to live in hope?
If
God is real then nothing is more real than God, so which version of God/reality
do we, like Pi, want to love? And
to put our faith in?
