Director:
Ang Lee
2012
USA, Cert PG, 2h 7m
Film £5. Doors and bar open 7:00pm, Film 7:30, Supper 9:45
Please book latest by Sunday 16th June – pay at the door.
Bookings: filmnight@rockbournevillagehall.org.uk
or phone: Lucy Matthews 01725 518695
When Yann Martel’s Booker Prize winning novel The Life of Pi was published some people said that it had changed their lives. There is a spiritual journey which, for many, resonates profoundly. That is not to say that the film is not hugely entertaining, funny and exciting. The story of a boy Pi (short for Piscine – swimming pool) cast adrift on the ocean in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena and a male Bengal tiger nicknamed Richard Parker (named after the White hunter who captured him) is a wondrous adventure.
In Canada, a writer visits the Indian storyteller Pi Patel and asks him to tell his life story. Pi tells the story of his childhood in Pondicherry, India. One day, his father explained that the municipality is no longer supporting the family’s zoo and that he has decided to move to Canada. They board a Japanese cargo ship with the animals. Out of the blue there is a storm followed by a shipwrecking. Pi needs to find a way to survive alone on his lifeboat, with both the aggressive hyena and Rickard Parker getting very hungry.
The one thing about which there was a general agreement, the book, despite being a worldwide best seller, could not be filmed. But that reckoned without the cinematic genius of director Ang Lee.
Lee is probably the world’s most versatile director. His films have ranged from the classic Chinese fantasy Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; our own beloved Sense and Sensibility; to the ‘gay’ horse opera Brokeback Mountain. Life of Pi won four ‘Oscars’ including one for the special effects which are truly astounding. Of course there was no Bengal tiger or even the Pacific Ocean; it was all conjured up using the most advanced CGI [Computer Generated Imagery] in movie history.
A remarkable film and something different for Rockbourne film night.
John Crome
Next films: Summer break, then Sep 18, Oct 16, Nov 20 – all tbd