“Those who mock religion and live in know-it-all science castles with trite factual answers to everything, would benefit from seeing this great film.”

There is a tiger in the boat.

The film looks like a visual treat, and if I had the money I might have gone to see this, but this arrogant review has put me off. The wikipedia reveals – Spoiler alert – that the story isn’t true, and that Pi was in a lifeboat with his mother and a sailor and the cook who kills the sailor and his mother:

Pi asks which of the two stories they prefer. Since the officials cannot prove which story is true and neither is relevant to the reasons behind the shipwreck, they choose the story with the animals. Pi thanks them and says, “and so it goes with God”.

So there’s the true story, and then there’s the emotionally appealing story, and the officials go with the appealing story rather than the truth. An apt metaphor for religion in other words.

The top quotes from the film decided by “Rotten Tomatoes.” I think the film is pretty much preaching something, doncha think?

. Pi: I surrender [to you God]. What more do you want?

. Adult Pi Patel: I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.

. Writer: [reading off the report] Mr. Patel’s is an astounding story, courage and endurance unparalleled in the history of ship-wrecks. Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.

. Adult Pi Patel: So which story do you prefer?
. Writer: The one with the tiger. That’s the better story.
. Adult Pi Patel: Thank you. And so it goes with God.
. Writer: [smiles] It’s an amazing story.

. Adult Pi Patel: Faith is a house with many rooms.
. Writer: But no room for doubt?
. Adult Pi Patel: Oh plenty, on every floor. Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested.

. Pi: God, thank you for giving me my life. I am ready now.

. Pi Patel: [on killing the fish] Thank you Lord Vishnu. Thank you for coming in the form of fish and saving our lives.

. Pi Patel: I can eat biscuits, but God made tigers carnivorous, so I must learn to catch fish. If don’t, I’m afraid his last meal would be a skinny vegetarian boy.

. Adult Pi Patel: [after describing what the priest in the Church told him about Jesus] That made no sense.

. Pi: What do you see Richard Parker? Tell me what do you see [then has a vision of what tiger is seeing].

. Adult Pi Patel: Hunger can change everything you thought you knew yourself!

. Santosh Patel: You think tiger is your friend, he is an animal, not a playmate.
. Pi Patel: Animals have souls… I have seen it in their eyes.

. Pi: Above all… it is important not to lose hope.

. Pi’s Father: We are going to Canada, North America.
. Pi: But Columbus was looking for India.

. Pi: Thank you, Vishnu, for introducing me to Christ.

. Pi: If every unfolding we experience takes us further along in life, then, we are truly experiencing what life is offering…

. Adult Pi Patel: Religion is a house with many rooms.
. Writer: But with no room for doubt?
. Adult Pi Patel: Oh yes, room on every floor.
. Adult Pi Patel: And so it is by God.

For real. The increasingly deranged Depardieu looks like he’s just eaten an elephant. But perhaps not so deranged in stuffing off to Russia and a flat 13% tax rate. Russia might be a top option if the lunatic melons slide into home plate with the nasty party.

Have you seen the size of this guy now ! Talk about Life of Pie…we know who ate them all..fat bastard