Life of Pi (2012)

“Life of Pi” follows the harrowing spiritual journey of an Indian teen named Pi (newcomer and sure-to-be-famous Suraj Sharma) who is swept away from a sinking cargo ship and lost at sea in a life boat for months, with a Bengal tiger as his sole companion and nemesis. Lost to Pi is his family -– father, mother, and brother, their zoo -– and before him lays certain death by starvation, heat stroke, thirst, insanity, or likely being the last meal of the tiger. Of all the books I read in the past decade, this has to be most un-filmable, yet Ang Lee -- who made “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” -– took it on. Cheers to him. Lee uses some of the best 3D and visual effects imagery I or you will ever see and every aspect of the film is just as top notch (including the music score) but … And I must be careful here not to spoil the end, author Yann Martel, in his award-winning book, dared stare God in the face and did not blink. Lee blinks. He shows all the beauty of spirituality, but not the darkness. Read the book. The movie insists on lightness. Martel, and God, knows different. B+