465 - Life of Pi, USA/Taiwan/UK, 2012. Dir. Ang Lee.
Richard Parker is the name of the Bengal Tiger.
It used to be Thirsty. He traded names with the man formerly known as Richard Parker.
The man is now Thirsty.
But that name change is not nearly as significant as that of Piscine Molitor Patel. Named for the swimming pool his father, Santosh, once visited in Paris.
Not, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world," but--
"Of all the pools in the world, the most beautiful was a public pool in Paris. That water there was so clear you could make your morning coffee with it."
Yum.
That is what Santosh's best friend Francis, whom the son knows as Mamaji, said to Santosh. Just before telling him that if he wanted his son to have a clean soul, he should take him to swim there.
So he did.
And one might argue that it worked. Maybe too well. The young Piscine Molitor Patel has such a clean soul that he seeks to love God in every way he can conceive.
Krishna. Jesus. Allah. Vishnu.
But what is not clean is the way his schoolmates treat his name. Piscine --> Pissing.
"Hey, Pissing! Are you pissing right now?"
"Look at him. He's pissing!"
"From an elegant French swimming pool to a stinking Indian latrine."
So he becomes Pi. The sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. (Technically pronounced the same as our letter p when referring to the Greek letter.) And the mathematical ratio. (Pronounced as we know it, as the word "pie.") In the movie he pronounces both as the latter.
Pi becomes an expert on Pi. He memorizes the number out to many, many digits. From 3.14 to 3.141592654, etc. . . . enough to fill three chalkboards.
Before Matt Damon bought a zoo, Santosh Patel owned a zoo. And Pi plays with the animals. He has a moment where he tries to bond with Richard Parker. The artist formerly known as Thirsty. But Santosh comes and stops him. In a panic. Then he demonstrates that tigers are not your friend.
But the Patels are going to have to sell their zoo and move to Canada. By way of a Japanese ship. With a cameo appearance by . . . wait! Is that? . . . Yes! It is. It is Gerard Depardieu as the cook!
And then the movie gets going.
If you watched The Black Stallion with us, then you know something about a boy going on a ship with his parent(s) only to have a storm sink the ship. And he finds himself alone with a wild animal.
The Black Stallion
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2018/01/373-black-stallion-united-states-1979.html
In this case, His Boy
The resourceful Pi must learn to survive. And to get along with the tiger.
Since he is telling the story from the beginning as an older man, we know that much. But what wonder and adventure happens along the way.
The older Pi is played by our friend Irrfan Khan, the prolific Hindi film actor. Whom we have just seen as the father Ashoke in The Namesake (2006). And whom we have also seen as The Father in The Darjeeling Limited (2007). You may also know him as the Police Inspector from Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Or as Masrani in Jurassic World (2015).
The Namesake
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2018/04/463-namesake-united-statesindia-2006.html
The Darjeeling Limited
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2018/02/410-darjeeling-limited-united-states.html
The Life of Pi was directed by the amazing Ang Lee, whose list of important films is long and varied. We recently saw his film Eat Drink Man Woman (1994).
Eat Drink Man Woman
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2018/03/451-eat-drink-man-woman-taiwan-1994-dir.html
Life of Pi is beautifully filmed. Parts of it may feel overly animated with CGI effects, but otherwise it is rich in color and wonder.
And heart.
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