Life... shades of greyness...

Roma (Mexican, Spanish; 2018)
Written, Produced and Directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

At first impulse, it looked like it was going to be draggy long-paused 'arty' movie. Set in the tumultuous times of the early 1970s Mexico, the story is shown in black and white against a background akin to a neorealist style with long takes and long pauses.

It looks like a reminder that history has a bad habit of repeating itself. If now, we have a citizen elected President peaceful ejected by his own in Venezuela, maybe soon to be replaced by a US back figurehead, in the late 60s and 70s Mexico, the situation was about the same. In Mexico, however, the US supported President was hated by his people. The opposing peasants and university students were labelled as communists and were systematically killed by the ruling government. 

The family who eats together stays together.

This film, however, has nothing to do with political injustice or revenge of the bygone era.

The story starts telling about the life of a maid, Cleo, an indigenous woman, who works in the middle-class household in the small town of Roma in Mexico. 

In the first quarter, in a slow build up, it dawns upon us that everything is not right between the man and woman of the family. Antonio, a doctor, the husband, is leaving the wife, Sofia, and their four kids for his mistress. Cleo gets pregnant after being introduced to her fellow worker's relative.

What builds up slowly eventually morphs into a fountain of genius in storytelling and cinematography.       

                                                                                                                           

In the second half of the movie, the storyteller tells us how Sofia, Cleo and the kids build an everlasting relationship that lasts a lifetime. Cleo loses her child, in the midst of the chaos that is happening in the country and the household. In spite of all the adversities, the family comes out strong with Cleo becoming like a second mother to the children. 4.8/5

In one frame, poetically, much is told about marriage - which is nothing than just a declaration of private intentions. On the left is a happy couple celebrating their wedding with much pomp and splendour. What waits in their future, nobody knows. In the centre, just below the pincer of the giant crab statue, is Cleo, an indigenous housemaid who had an unwanted pregnancy from casual contact with a  date who refuse to take responsibly. In the end, as if like Nature making what seems like the best decision for her, Cleo delivers a stillborn. She never wanted the baby anyway. Then on the right is Sofia with her four children. Her marriage ended when her husband walked out on her, for another lady. Sofia and Cleo end up bringing up the four kids. Is the storyteller telling us that you do not need a man to bring up a family? It was semi-autobiography about his childhood anyway. That is a reality.

There are biological differences between the genders. Everyone is fitted to perform specific biological duties. Each gender should complement the other; not compete with the other.

[N.B. Is it a coincidence that a film with Mexico in the plot and an indigenous Mexican actor in lead role is nominated for 10 Academy Awards at a time when the government services have shut down in anticipation of building a wall against the caravans at the Mexican border? It is the highest foreign with the most top nomination since 2000's 'Hidden Dragon Crouching Tiger']


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What is it like to be a leader?

Selma (2014)

This movie did not garner much publicity even though it earned many accolades to its belt probably because it is a black movie made by blacks about something close to the blacks. 

It tells about a tumultuous time in America which they have not come in terms with. The relationship between the slaves and the slave-owners which had gone through many rough patches, again and again, all through the civil war, black rights movement and even to date with the rampant cases of police racial profiling as in Ferguson incident.

In 1964, the right to vote in the southern states was made extremely difficult by the Little Napoleons of the civil service.

Without the right to vote, the blacks do not get a right to stand as jury in court, and without that, a black convict is not deemed to get a fair trial.

Martin Luther King Jr, a Nobel prize winner in 1964 for Peace, argues with President LB Johnson and Governor Wallace of Louisiana towards this end. As a political statement, people organised a peaceful march from the town of Selma to Montgomery, the capital.

A touching movie which gives a 3-dimensional feel of a leader giving him the very qualities that make him a mortal. He too has his uncertainties of what to do when his helpless followers demand from his the next course of action when the plan is derailed. As if he has all the answers! And the leaders have to take all the brickbats for all his shortcomings.

There was a scene at Selma when things were getting ugly - the marchers and the hostile patrolmen and onlookers. As if to gain guidance from the divine forces, the good reverend knelt, prayed and commanded the marchers to retread much to the chagrin of the blacks. By doing so, he had, in fact, averted much bloodshed. Interestingly, up to a third of his marchers were whites and religious leaders of different faiths.

The actor who acted in the role of MLKJr, David Oyelowo, did an excellent job of mimicking MLKJr's style of speaking so well that the speeches sounded like voice-overs. The film ends with another one of his heart-wrenchingly and neatly crafted speech.

Critics of the film complained that LBJ had been painted as a conniving two-faced racist politician who made things difficult for MLKJr. Historically, LBJ, being a Southerner, had been praised for being a champion for civil rights' movement. However, in this film, he is portrayed as a reluctant leader who partnered FBI chief Hoover, to give hell to King, his family and his followers.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Resting on past laurels?

The Imitation Game (2014)
The Brits, ever nostalgic over the times when the sun never set on their empire, are still not done with their success stories. This time around yet another angle of their success indecoding the unbreakable German Enigma machine.
The movie did not really strike as a suspense thriller but rather as one sympathetic to the plight of the LGBTQ community. And we have been too many of that kind of late!

The story is not anything new. As it is of historical nature, the outcome is well known, nothing unexpected.

It tells of a Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock fame), a socially awkward mathematical genius who is recruited an encryptor during the WW2 era. He and his team managed to decipher the German codes and potentially shorten the war by a good two years. 

Kiera Knighley as Joan Clarke

The real Joan Clarke

The real issue that the film makers are trying to highlight is that a man of such stature, his deed to the country is reciprocated by his subsequent imprisonment and chemical castration for homosexuality. His incarceration ended with his apparent suicide. 

During his tour of duty, he was engaged to his co-worker, Joan Clarke. As we can see from the picture below, a plain Jane, mathematical whiz and crossword puzzle maestro is made larger than life with the razzmatazz and make-up as portrayed by the lovely Kiera Knightley. An average movie by my taste.

A hunting they will go!

Good Will Hunting, 1997 Drama

An old write up. As a farewell to an extremely talented artiste who, despite his inner demons and the dark shadows of the black dog that haunted a good portion of his life, still came out tops as a world class entertainer. For the children of the 70s and 80s, Robin Williams was just part of our exposure to the world of comedy, starting with 'Mork and Mindy' to 'Mrs Doubtfire' to 'Good Will Hunting' to 'Dead Poet's Society' to 'Jumanji' and beyond. RIP.

This multiple award winning film is a heart wrenching saga of a gifted individual trapped in the conundrum of poverty, unsavoury upbringing and living environment that stunts his personal development.
It is set in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston where Will Hunting (Matt Damon), the protagonist is a janitor. He is also a prodigy who has a photographic memory who enjoys reading and learning multiple subjects. Unfortunately, his fate of being born in a dysfunctional to an alcoholic abusive father erased the chances of his ability being discovered and nurtured. He is living in the wrong side of the city, moving with simple minded friends who are more interested in getting drunk and bedding girls. Will had got into the wrong side of the law on numeral occasions.
Professor Gerald Lambeau is a mathematics professor who enjoys pasting difficult mind boggling mathematics questions on the board in the corridors for his students to solve. Will, the janitor, is found to be solving these extremely difficult questions and Professor decides to go on a crusade to turn Will useful for the world to benefit from his Godly gift.
As Will is behind bars when the good Professor found him, he made a deal with the presiding judge to be his guarantor and engage a therapist for the young man to reform. Professor discovers his true genius in solving Mathematic equations but prove too cocky and slippery to the liking of many regular psychiatrists.
Finally, the Professor approaches his old roommate, Dr Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), a psychology lecturer in a community college. He has his own baggage. 2 years after losing his wife to cancer, he is still living in her memory and shuns fame and limelight. Sean agrees to counsel Will, after realizing that Will and he had similar family background. After a couple of stormy sessions, he managed to have a breakthrough, talking about common interest like baseball and the demise of his wife.
In the meantime, in midst of his work in MIT and therapy sessions, Will is romantically linked with a rich MIT student, Skylar, who is studying to be a doctor. Will’s tumultuous childhood impedes his commitment to a steady long term relationship with her. The Professor’s numerous attempts to get Will into a permanent job proved futile due to Will’s disinterest. He does not see the meaning of doing all these but rather enjoys his time with his simple minded friends. It came to a point that he leaves therapy sessions, ends his romantic relationship and be absent from his MIT work.
It is when he started working as a construction worker that his friend (Ben Affleck) realizes that he has an asset that is enviable. His friend confides that he is jealous of Will’s ability and would trade places with anytime to enjoy the good life.
Will returns to a ground breaking therapy where the therapist and patient discover that they were both victims of child abuse. Will starts his new job and drives to California to rekindle his lost romance in Skylar.
‘Good Will Hunting’ tells us how a child with improper upbringing fails to achieve his true potential. Like Mozart and Einstein, children with special gifts need to be discovered and encouraged. If everyday living is a struggle, their interest would be channeled negatively through defence mechanisms that focus on short term enjoyment and escapism. The world would be at a loss of these geniuses. It is not a matter of telling these prodigies of their shortcomings and making them realize of their assets, they need to be tackled appropriately. Change must come from within themselves. No amount of nagging and pushing is going to turn the other side.

Recipe for Oscars!

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

It is often said that most Academy awards films/ actors that win usually have done one of the following - lost a lot of weight, get afflicted with HIV, cross dress or appear very ugly. Living true to this mantra are this year's winners, Matthew McConaughey (Best Actor, HIV patient) and Jared Leto (Best Supporting Actor, Transgender cross dresser).
Looks like Matthew McConaughey has broken away from his usual mould of showing off his sculptured six pack body. He gave a stellar performance as blue collar homophobic electrician cum bookie who was afflicted with HIV through his promiscuous way of life. After the initial denial, reality hit him. Instead of taking the standard treatment with AZT, he gets treated by an American deregistered doctor in Mexico.
He is treated with non standard treatment with medications not approved in the US. As his conditions improves tremendously, he continues his treatment. Not only that, he illegally smuggles the drugs. He starts a HIVpatients' club with membership fees and supplies them with meds from Mexico without any expert consultation. A fellow HIV patient, Rayon, who he met in the hospital becomes his assistant. Of course, his venture is met with a lot of resistance - his original doctor, (his assistant Jennifer Garner is on his side), FDA and IRS.
Quite an entertaining movie, American style.

Still a wonderful life!

Nebraska (2013)
You look at someone old who is not the warmest person in the world with signs of senility written all over and think that he must be the most uninspiring person with a most boring life. You keep away thinking that he may ask you for help. Then you see his wife who carries herself like she is the most painful character in the world and you start thinking, "what do these find in each other, why do they go for each other's neck but still show affection to each other all these years?"
Slowly you discover that this person was also young and had his time in the spotlight. He served his country, broke a few hearts along the way, did many good deeds and had his own set of buddies. Then you realise that "he is alright" and let him have his wish. You stop telling him to do things just because you want it to be done your way but give him dignity and let him have his way.
This, in essence, is the gist of this touching film. Purposely done in black and white to give the nostalgia feel, it explores the relationship between an hard drinking quiet old man, Woody Grant and  his family and his younger son, David, in particular.
Woody, a sometimes senile veteran, frequently goes out alone walking on the highway. He alleges that he had won a $1million prize and was walking all the way across two states (from Billing, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska) to collect his prize.
This brings many tensions in the family. The nagging mother, David's frequent disruptions from work and the seemingly unshakable belief of the father was just too much for David. The supposed prize was actually nothing more than book order and chance for lucky draw business gimmick. Just to keep his father happy and put to end to this nonsense, David decides to take a long drive to Nebraska with his father. Sometimes David wonders what bonds his parents together after all these years despite the constant display of distaste for each other, unlike his relationship which is so fragile that crumbles with slightest of provocation!
A small accident on Woody called for a stopover at the town that Woody and his wife grew up. Just like any small town in US, Hawthorne is another town with nothing much to do and only old folks there. A reunion is arranged. His relatives and old friends meet up. David learns a lot of things about his father. There is even old flame there. He realises that his father is not just an old drunk but has a good heart and a tale to tell about his good life. The only problem is that he is quite an introvert.
Everyone in town soon learns about his 'fortune' and wants a piece on the earning, citing old debts and forgotten loans.
After much deliberation, the duo finally reach Lincoln to learn the truth. David discovers the real reason his father was adamant on acquiring the money as he felt that wanted to leave something behind for his sons when he died.
On the way back, David trades in his car for a pick-up truck under his father's name and bought an air compressor that Woody always wanted. The joy of seeing his father driving the truck proudly in front of his friends and relatives in Hawthorne.. priceless!

Every dog has its day

Blue Jasmine (2013)
Story & Direction: Woody Allen

We were just discussing the other day whether a person's work should be assessed by his work alone. Quite often than not, personal actions, inactions, mistakes and crimes are used with vile against their ingenious work of art. Just because of Hitler's nefarious acts, are we going to downplay his picturesque painting of Vienna? How about his push for advancement in German technology? Then there is Roman Polanski with the cast of black cloud overshadowing his deeds. What about all the prodigies, geniuses and the insane who are a separated alone by a fine line who had behaviours clashing with norms of society?
Woody Allen, often frowned upon by the world at large for the alleged misconduct with his step daughter, has come up yet with another winner. It has all the trademarks of Allen's typical brand of comedy.
Cate Blanchett, gives a Oscar deserved performance of downtrodden wife of a crooked businessman in verge of mental breakdown.
She flies in from New York to crash into her sister's life in San Francisco.

VW - Hitler's pride of joy
(Volkswagen - folk's wagon)

Jasmine's (Cate Blanchett) story is told in flashbacks as the story progresses. Jasmine and her husband (Alec Baldwin) lived amongst the uppity society with their ill gotten gains through creative accounting and manipulative Ponski scheme. They used to look down their low brow sister and her then husband when they visited New Year. They (actually Jasmine claims ignorance over the whole scheme) also used their money to invest in failures.
After discovering of husband's extramarital affairs, Jasmine snitched all of her husband's business to the FBI. The Government and lawyers took all their money, made them paupers and put her husband in jail who eventually killed himself. Her young adult son left university to be on his own.
The mentally stressed Jasmine tries to pick up the pieces and start life anew in San Francisco. Life is not easy for her as she has to endure the wrath of Ginger's ex-husband, her new boyfriend, advances of her new boss, her desperation to live the high life and her willingness to bluff herself all the way through to charm a wealthy suitor.
An entertaining flick with lots of emotion with a twang of comedy infused in it.

It is a hard life!

The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgian, Dutch; 2012)
AG thought 2013 would be the year of the Lion or Common Kestrel. With so many Belgian home grown international football players in the world arena and now a Belgian production a nominee in the Academy Awards for the Foreign Film category, it was her time in the spotlight. Now, we know Belgium has a movie industry.
This melodrama combines too many ideas into one presentation. It, however, excels in the music category. The soundtrack of bluegrass country music with heart warming plucking of banjo, mandolin and fiddle really stands out like no other. You may be asking what is bluegrass band doing in a Belgian setting? Well, the main character of the story, Didier has an obsession with this genre of music and looks up at the pioneers who promoted this kind of music. He plays in a band at a local pub. He has a love (?lust) at first sight moment with an owner of a tattoo parlour, Elise.

Common Kestrel
(Belgian National Bird)

Looks like the new way of telling story is the ala-Christopher Nolan style. The story is told in different time frames and the viewers are required to fill in the correct order. It is not too difficult, however.
An unplanned pregnancy initially scares Didier but later accepts the situation. Love blossoms in the household with the new addition, Maybelle. The story, all along, is interlaced with ear soothing feet stomping American folklore music.
At 6, Maybelle succumbs to cancer after failing all forms of treatment.
That is when I started wondering which direction the movie is heading. After all the sadness and acceptance, each parent blame each other for the child's demise, right down to genetic contribution. Then, there is a clash of spiritual ideologies. Didier is a strict non believer whilst Elise believes in the God above, heaven and all. They managed to settle their differences and start playing in the band again.
Then there is Didier's outburst on George Bush for vetoing the bill on stem cell research. Didier cannot fathom why a country (which he adores) has no qualms killing people through their wars but deprive potentially life saving researches. He blames this on Man's blind faith in God. He even has an outburst during one of the band's performances.
Didier and Elise never really got over the loss of their daughter and their relationship spiralled downhill. At one juncture, she attempts suicide. Despite resuscitation, she is left brain dead.
The most touching part of the movie is when Elise's life support is unplugged to the accompanying music of Didier and his band in ICU.
I feel that many of the areas that they wanted to cover were very wishy washy, lacking in depth and direction. I was left to wonder what really was the take home message. That being in an organised religion is bad, that America is bad, that relationships cannot last forever or how tragedy affects human relationships? Perhaps if the director had spent less time graphically portraying the intimate moments of the main characters, they would have succeeded in these! Still, excellent music!

A free slave?

12 years a slave (2013)

They make us believe us that it is a darn good film and the list of nominations and accolades are testimony of that. Unfortunately, a non-artistic person like me failed to see the fantastic nature of the presentation.
They say praises of Steve McQueen, the director, but it is the different McQueen than the one I knew growing up.
We have seen way too many movies like this before, on the evil pasts of what the white settlers of the New World did to their African slaves, the treachery, the unmanly conduct and bullying.
This time around it is the narration of a pre-Civil War free Negro who was kidnapped and sold off as a slave to cotton plantation.
He endured 12 years of torture and loss of freedom to be reunited with his family, essentially losing a great deal of his adulthood. This man, Solomon Northup, later became a writer and helped slaves to escape via the Underground Railroad.
We again see how man uses selected quotes  from Bible to subdue his subjects and justify the torture that he devices on errant slaves.
Anyway, nothing like Alex Hailey's 'Roots' which also turned out to of questionable authenticity!  

Life goes on...

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 1974
I wonder why the past few films have women themes in them, pure coincidence, I suppose. This 1974 flick was directed by the Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese. Unlike his usual cup of tea which involves a lot of violence and killings, this one is a family drama with a lot of emotions involved.
It did create some noise groups for portrayal of an abused docile wife.
Alice Wyatt (Ellen Burstyn) had big ambitions of being a singer. Came a man in her life, blinded by love, marriage and pop came a son, he ended up as a housewife to a hot tempered Cola Cola employee and a mother to a slightly bad mannered 11 year old boy. In spite of the strained relationship, life went on till husband was killed in an accident. Facing financial difficulties, she sells her meagre belongings in New Mexico and decide to drive back to her home town of Monterey, California with her son to continue where she stopped of what was supposed to be the beginning of her music career.
Due to dire straits, she made a pit stop at Phoenix, Arizona. She manages to get a singing job at a small bar. She gets romantically involved, unknowingly, to an abusive married man. When his wife comes to see Alice and the mad (both mood and predisposition) man goes violent on both of them, she scoots the scene.
Things becomes tougher for Alice, made not easy by her constantly whining son.

Singer to waitress

Another stop, this time at Tucson to earn more money. She landed up as a waitress in a regular restaurant. After some dissatisfaction, she comes in terms with her job and her co-workers.
Alice meets up with David (Kris Kristofferson), a divorcee, a regular patron to the restaurant and slowly through his good bonding with her son, Tommy, gets romantically linked.
On his twelfth birthday, the brat grossly misbehaved and David gave him a spanking. Upset, they have a tiff. Tom goes missing. He gets drunk with his weird friend Audrey (a young Jodie Foster) and had to picked up at the police station.
As in all happy endings, everybody apologizes and compromises.
Alice stays in Tucson to pursue her stalled singing career, Tommy starts schooling and David and Alice kiss and make up.

Mmm... Just another Hallmark like movie which did not leave a profound impression. Obviously, the Academy awards panel member thought it was worthy of many nominations and in fact it won a couple.

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Another noir drama

Sudden fear (1952)

Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) is a rich heiress who is also successful play writer in New York. She is overlooking a rehearsal of her latest play, 'Halfway to Heaven' when she commented that the auditioned actor, even though presented his dialogues succinctly, was not macho enough for Myra. The said actor, Lester Blaine (Jack Palance), goes off but not without giving a piece of his mind that even Casanova (from a portrait that he saw) had a deformed face and rough features.
Another actor takes over the role and the play goes on to be a hit. Myra goes off on a long train ride to San Francisco on a well deserved break.
At the railway, she bumps into Lester. Even though Lester had apparently forgotten their previous encounter and had moved on with life, Myra felt that she owes him an apology. The banter goes on to drinks and laughter. Lester even extended his ticket from Chicago all the way to her destination.

Jack Palance

One thing lead another and Myra and Lester are married. Everything seem smooth sailing until a certain Irene Neves turns up as Myra's lawyer's brother's (Mike Connors, his big hit was Mannix) girlfriend to disturb the tranquility.

Mike Connors

We find out that Lester and Irene are lovers and they were out to cheat Myra off her money.
Lester later discovers that Myra was planning to donate a substantial amount of money to a heart foundation. He tries to get some money off Myra.
Myra's lawyer prepare a will for her. Unhappy with the meagre inheritance left for Lester, Myra dictates her proposal on a Dictaphone (an old dictating machine). She accidentally left the machine on, only to discover Lester and Irene's plan to murder her before the weekend was over!
She planned to hide the only available evidence to show it to the police later but in the excitement, the record fell and broke unto smithereens. Left with Hobson's choice, as her lawyer and her friends were all out of town, she had to take care of herself.
Here, we see good high-wire suspense of the crooks and the victim trying to outwit each other. She comes out of the whole imbroglio shaken and stirred but alive as her quick thinking and luck ended up both crooks killing each other.
Truly, Joan Crawford is the star of this movie. Her big starry eyed looked is suitable to portray all kinds of emotions to perfection, be it joy, love-struck, anxiety, fear or hysteria! This film was nominated for 4 academy awards.

Dramatization of a secret mission

Argo 2012

This film won many praises mainly because it is an American movie that over glorifies the American efforts to save its citizen from its 'evil' enemies. In the process, it made genuine helpers mere bystanders. It narrates  a secret mission apparently to rescue six of their embassy staff who managed to escape their captors during the takeover of the American Embassy back in 1979.  

Ben Affleck (the director and producer) stars as a CIA agent who masterminds an escape plan for the embassy staff by entering Iran as a Canadian film maker looking for a location for his movie, Argo, a space fantasy film. He manages to enter and contact the escapees. The suspense of escaping from the menacing Iranian militia amidst the last minute cancellation of their ticket and the heart throbbing excitement at the immigration exit point forms the highlight of the movie.

The camera shots were not typical of a feature film but that of journalistic filming, like how it would look when reporters would capture a live coverage, adding authenticity to the story. That's fresh! Even though we all know how the ending would be, the director still managed to the high tension excitement right till the end!

The fictitious exit point drama before the runway
police car chase (also never happened)

People who were involved in the actual mission clarified that the  actual mission was not filled with as much anxiety and other nationalities also played more important roles. But then, as this film is based on real events and not the real deal, dramatic licence makes it perfectly okay to paint CIA as the eternal good guys and the rest of the world as either dumb or barbaric!

To be fair, the film tries to tell and justify the Iranian uprising, albeit its historical inaccuracies (was it on purpose?). After being ruled by many Shahs, a secular prime minister was elected in 1950. He nationalized the oil fields run by American and British companies. In retaliation, US supported a coup de tat to place Shah Reza Pahlavi as their puppet king. Too many killings and punishment were meted out by the Savak (his secret police) during his opulent rule - the empress is said to have bathed in milk and Shah had his lunch flown from Paris on Concorde!
The people retaliated with the 1979 Islamic revolution. The deposed Shah (in USA for cancer) is demanded to be returned. In this setting, the American Embassy hostage drama takes place.
The great escape becomes comes to an end when the stewardess announces on the PA system, "..alcoholic beverages will be served now as we are clear off the Iranian skies!..."

Just a few observations..

I never knew the word 'sweat shop' was in vogue before the 90s and the 'f' word was not used that rampantly in the late 70s (I think, unless I kept with the wrong company).

It is all about survival, my friend!

Life of Pi 2012
Finally watched the coveted 'Life of Pi' to judge for myself whether it is 'cheesy, hyped and dwelling in the sentimental yearn of mystical eastern culture' as described negatively by my daughter or is it worth the accolade offered to a film directed by a Chinaman (Director Ang Lee) experimenting with Indian culture and having a Tamil song in its soundtrack!
The impression I got after watching the whole film was that the story behind the story is indeed well hidden behind the story. It needs a little of literary and artistic skills to appreciate its meaning. At one look, it looks like a story of a boy from exotic India who is shipwrecked, escapes from a tiger, deserted in an island and lives to tell his story! But wait! There is more to it...

Ang Lee

To me, it tells that fear is one feature that drive us to go living. Fearing the uncertainty of life and what it has store for us, we hold on to believes like God and spiritualism. Even animals have this fear for survival, even the predator or the hunted feel it. Fear is the basic need to survive and go on living. I especially like the part during the storm, on the life boat, where both Pi and the Richard Parker (the Bengal tiger) hold on to their dear lives under the cover of the sheets as the storm terrorises and shows its full glory.
It is just like when 'In Golden Pond' was praised to high heavens and we teenagers could not understand what the fuss was all about in 1980! Err.... It needs doing time in the School of Hard Knocks and Heartaches to understand these things.
Piscin Patel or Pi (his name is based on the picturesque swimming pool in France named Piscin Molitor, which he changed after being bullied by schoolmates by calling him Pissing Patel) tells his story to an author who was looking for an interesting story to write. Pi (as in the mathematical formula) and his brother Ravi grew up in the French Pondicherry before independence (of India). Their father ran a zoo and his mother was a botanist there. Pi and Ravi had a interesting childhood being exposed to various facets of life in Pondicherry, the white French Riveira like setting, the Muslim section as well the others. Pi was exposed to various religions and at a tender age, he started embracing them one by one. His parents, of the New Indian variety, open minded about exposing things to the children were happy about it.
Then came bad times. The zoo had to be closed. Pi's father decided to migrate lock, stock and barrel (with animals too) to Northern America by ship.

barrier broken

The ship meets a nasty storm and goes down with all its passengers, save for Pi and a few animals (zebra, orang utan, hyena and a Bengal tiger). Pi and the animals are thrown into a life boat. The story is on how Pi survives the 277 days of ordeal stranded on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Oceans. It tells us how a tennage boy and predator build a relationship to stay alive. The fear to stay alive drove him to feed the tiger fish and rain water and hold a rein of control over the beast. Using his mental faculty and his trust in God as his anchor, he sailed through the choppy waters.
They reach a mystical floating island paradise which actually had its water turn acidic at night and the plants become carnivorous. This drove Pi to search for safe land. They finally reach Mexico and the predator and Man relationship just fizzles out just like that as both follow their own path.
At the hospital, his tall story is unbelievable to the ship insurers. Pi modifies the story replacing the animals on the life boat to characters on board the ship - the mean cook, the kind sailor, his mother and himself.
It displays intense human emotions spiced up with excellent CGI for which a Malaysian company (Rhythms and Hues) can be extremely proud of. Bombay Jaishree sings the soundtrack.

A meaningful tale of survival of man on earth, based on fear which is somehow allayed by his quest into the unknown and trust in entity referred to as God!

What I want to know is that why the Patels are speaking Tamil?

Rythm & Hues used a swimming pool to create an island scene for the film.

.... a film that is technically excellent, aesthetically superb, well acted and directed. a fairy tale, a tale of survival, a tale of belief in the self in face of adversity,or surrender to god so he may do as he will,but not before we give it all that we have with his grace. still thinking about it. GR