Life of Pi, in film and book form, is an amazing tour de force exploring the deep longings of the human heart for God, the strength of the will of man and a secular Canadian's attempt to unite all world religions.“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.” ― Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Life of Pi is a narrative of the story of Piscine (Pi) Molitor Patel, his life as a young boy searching for God and his survival in a shipwreck accompanied by a Bengal tiger.
I have seen the movie "The Life of Pi" twice already on the big screen. I have also read the book.The story is set in Toronto and I myself being a Torontonian (from Scarborough where the narration of most of the book took place) for the last 12 years can give some insight on the culture the book and film is trying to espouse.
Yann Martel, the Canadian author used the backdrop of shipwreck survival to preach about interfaith- Pi is a devoted Hindu, Christian, Muslim and a Kabbalah scholar rolled into one. Though the story talks about Pi rejecting his father's belief in rationalism, what Pi was able to accomplish was rationalize that all religion leads to God. The Life of Pi might go down in history as the new bible for interfaith cooperation and sad to say, confusion. I will not be surprise one day that a new culture citing this book as canon will emerge---oh wait it's already here in the form of modern secularism with a dash of spirituality.
If you have been raised by agnostic or atheist parents then this film and book is a general introduction challenging you to use your rationalism to believe there is GOD.
If you are a Christian elsewhere in the planet except Canada, then this is a glance on what western society wants to accept about God. It is a modern retelling of the blind men describing different parts of an elephant--affirming all world religions and mocking all of them at the same time.
What looks good on paper and film will never work in real life, though. What Yann Martel is preaching is it's OK to have five girlfriends simultaneously and be committed to all of them- monogamy is so old school! It's like saying to one girl I love your smile and to the other I love your cooking and to the other I like how you smell or maybe I love the beautiful babies you have produced BUT NEVER COMMITTING TO ANY OF THEM. Try this in your relationships and sooner rather than later you will find out it just won't work or how fatal these kind of arrangements can be.
Pi's faith-salad plays into what the secular world is looking for- a spirituality without commitment, confused, transient and without conviction.
Sadly in Pi's film timeline, he has chosen doubt as a philosophy in life and a faith that is immobile and void of power and fulfilment.
Moreover, I do believe that the Pi depicted in the book knew more about the love of Christ and the necessity of the incarnation than your average Christian church-goer. Read the chapters that talked about his encounter with the love of Christ and you will be moved. If he is a real person, I believe the love of God will reach out to him in the future or even before actual death so that he can be with his Beloved Jesus for eternity.
Hi Kuya Joseph! I loved reading the book and watching the film, though it's true that his interfaith was indeed hard to resolve for me, as a Christian. But I agree that those chapters where he talked about Christ were some of the most powerful.
ReplyDeleteI hope all Pi's out there will indeed see that power and that power of Love is the greatest compared to everything. ^_^
Hi Mari, the book was a brilliant piece of literature that won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. I also loved reading the book and the feeling of being transported to different locales and ways of thinking. And indeed, I share the same prayers for all the Pi's out there. Thanks for commenting.
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