In the realm of contemporary film, few movies have captured the indomitable human spirit as well as Ang Lee's adaptation of Life of Pi. Pi, the protagonist, constantly strives to maintain his moral principles, even though circumstances tempt him to stoop to savagery.

In Life of Pi, the Piscine Molitor is an Olympic pool in France that is described as being so clean that if you take a swim in it, you will emerge with a clean soul. (Lee, 2012, 6:36) For a swimmer, it is akin to the Kaaba or the Temple Mount; it is a holy site of pilgrimage. Thus, on the advice of his brother, a swimmer, a zoo owner names his son, the protagonist of this story, Piscine Molitor Patel.

Piscine’s name serves more as a metaphor than as a literal place, akin to Zihuatanejo or Timbuktu. There is not a single scene in the book or the movie where Pi visits his faraway namesake; his only conception of the pool comes from his uncle Mamali’s description of it. His name alludes to the divine in that it is unknowable and unseen. Fittingly, he spends much of his childhood learning about different religions to try and live his daily life in accordance with moral principles.(Lee, 2012, 19:54)

However, Piscine is interrupted in his spiritual quest by a splash of odorous reality. In school, Piscine’s obnoxious classmates transform his name into the vulgar “pissing” to taunt him. (Lee, 2012, 6:59) It’s unfortunately fitting, as piss is the by-product created whenever water, no matter how pure, is passed through a nasty digestive tract. However clean Piscine’s name is, it can’t maintain that quality when sloshed through the bowels of the dirty real world.

However, Piscine is insistent on his dignity. Thus, he reinvents himself as “Pi”, after the irrational mathematical constant and insists that everyone call him by his new name. His efforts don’t pay off at first, and the bullies still call him “pissing”. Undeterred, Piscine, now Pi, memorizes dozens of digits of his namesake and recites them all in front of his stunned classmates. Dumbfounded by his display of dedication, his bullies don’t dare to call him “pissing” again and accept him as school legend “Pi” Patel. (Lee, 2012, 9:26) This episode is a microcosm of the entire story– Pi struggles to preserve his humanity in adverse circumstances.

Pi’s new name, like his old one, alludes to the transcendental. Its namesake number is as ubiquitous in the real world as the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle, but also extends infinitely, beyond human comprehension or any physical meaning. Pi cannot fully be expressed by a circle with the diameter of the universe and a resolution down to the Planck length, but its ghost can be roughly seen in every circular object in the universe. Like God, Pi is indescribable yet omnipresent.   

Later, Pi becomes stranded on a lifeboat with Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger, after a shipwreck. Parker expects fish from Pi in exchange for not eating him, even though Pi’s vegetarianism forbids him from killing animals. Pi reluctantly agrees to this deal, all the while thanking the fish he feeds Parker for sacrificing its life. (Lee, 2012, 1:11:12) Even after being dealt a terrible hand by fate, Pi still doesn’t make excuses for himself and maintains his moral compass.

As tempting and easy as it is to simply feed Parker and leave it at that, Pi decides to stand up to Parker to maintain his self-respect, just as he did with elementary school bullies. He navigates the boat against choppy waters to dizzy Parker when he doesn’t behave, and rewards him with fish when he does. Pi doesn’t come across as a bully himself, though Parker never dares to strong-arm him again. (Lee, 2012, 1:02:58)

When Parker falls overboard, Pi considers letting him drown, but ultimately rescues him. He takes the high road because his integrity and conscience prevents him from being cruel. Even though his father had told him that tigers do not have souls, Pi knows that saving Parker isn’t a matter of whether Parker has a soul or not– it’s a matter of whether he does. Pi’s father had admonished him for seeing his own emotions in Parker, (Lee, 2012, 24:23) but he had never considered that Pi would need to do so one day. Alone on the high seas, Pi needs Parker to remind himself of what he is not– a beast. He cannot give up his humanity, and live like an animal.

When Pi and Parker reach a deserted island, Pi is tempted to spend the rest of his life there. The weather is tropical, the food is plentiful, and the water is fresh and clean. Pi forgets about ever reaching humanity again, as the island seems to provide everything that he needs. However, in reality it is false salvation– the island is carnivorous. The water appears to be as clean as the Piscine Molitor, but every night, it turns into digestive acid. Realizing that the siren song of eternal comfort is only luring him to his death, Pi sets off to return to human society the very next morning. (Lee, 2012, 1:42:22)

Throughout the story, Pi follows his conscience like a guiding star. In every circumstance, he acts in a manner consistent with his stated values. Though fate may throw whatever obstacle it has against Pi to slow him down, it cannot change his direction. When bogged down by a quagmire of piss, Pi will unflinchingly begin chlorinating to achieve his ideal of a Piscine. Similarly, mathematicians try to calculate Pi with their finite hands and minds. They will never reach the end, though their eternal effort to do so has sharpened their skills and thinking.

When you’re swimming freestyle in a pool, you must extend your arm as if you’re reaching to grab the opposite deck in order to perform a successful arm stroke. You know full well you aren’t going to reach it; however, if you move your arms in place without reaching, you’ll only tread water forever.

Pi’s constant pursuit of higher ideals and his fight to not give up in the face of unfortunate circumstances not only endears him to filmgoers, but also reflects the unending toil of the human condition. Though very few viewers will ever endure the hardships as tough as the one that Pi went through, every single human being will one day face a choice between striving for something better or accepting situations as they are. Thus, Life of Pi will remain timeless for its rendition of the eternal human battle between the “Piscine” and the “piss”.

References

Lee, A. (Director). (2012). Life of Pi [Film]. Fox 2000 Pictures; Dune Entertainment; Ingenious Media; Haishang Films.