What I Watched -- Life of Pi

Way back when I was in NC, I went to see Life of Pi with mom and E.  Generally I prefer to read books before I see the movie counterparts, but I'm super behind on my reading and this seemed like a visually appealing movie worth seeing in the theater.  Off I went, knowing nothing about the story other than that there was something about a boy, a tiger, and a boat.

And really, that was most of the story: a boy, a tiger, and a boat.  The boy is Pi Patel, the tiger is Richard Parker, and the boat is too small for the two of them, but it's all they have after their ship goes down in the middle of nowhere.

The story of the shipwreck is told as a flashback; you know from the very beginning that Pi survives.  Once that's out of the way, there are really two things about the movie worth your time: first, it's an Ang Lee film - hence visually appealing, though spare (they are lost at sea, remember).  Second, there's a tiger on a boat.  Don't see that very often.  Actually rumor has it that a live tiger was only used for some of the scenes in which Richard Parker is swimming; everything else was CGI.  Regardless, Pi and Richard Parker's relationship and exploits are engaging.

There are stories floating around out there in the ether about the origin of these names, and the two that I've found are quite interesting.  See for yourself:

1. Yann Martel, the author of the book, supposedly named the tiger after Richard Parker of Mignonette infamy.  Parker was a cabin boy on a yacht which went down in 1884.  The four on the yacht all managed to reach the lifeboat, but the other three survivors consented (or at least didn't object) to sacrificing Parker in an act of cannibalism.

Apparently (though I didn't notice it), there is a ship passing by in the background in a scene with adult Pi called The Mignonette. 

What's more, this gives new meaning to the mystical island in the movie, doesn't it?  (If you've seen it, you know what I mean.)

2. Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, published in 1838, came out decades before the loss of The Mignonette.  The boy Pym stows away on a whaling boat with his dog, named Tiger.  There is a mutiny and a counter-mutiny, and the only original mutineer to survive the second go-around is named - you guessed it - Richard Parker.  Pym, Richard Parker, and two other sailors survive a terrible storm but find themselves without food and fresh water.  Parker suggests that they draw straws, because one of them needs to be sacrificed so the others can survive.  Parker loses, and is killed and eaten.

Can I point out again that The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published 46 years BEFORE The Mignonette wrecked.  Weird.

Anyway, pick whichever story you like. They're both good.

Bottom line: well done, and worth the big screen if you can suspend your disbelief and just go with it for a couple of hours.