Director Ang Lee’s film ‘Life of Pi’, is a visually stunning film about survival and faith. The film adaptation of Yann Martel’s tale of shipwreck and courage does its job in upholding the plot, unlike in many other films that sprung from under the cover of a novel. Actors Suraj Sharma and Irrfan Khan portray their characters in a way that could only please Martel.

A man tells his story, in which he, as a young boy fights for survival in the ocean, knowing that he must stay close to his only company, an adult Bengal tiger. Pi Patel, played by Suraj Sharma as a boy, and Irrfan Khan as a man, is a follower of many faiths who tells his story to a man looking for something to write. Pi’s story is just what he is searching for and it also opens his eyes to ‘the house of faith’. But, there is more than one version of the story and, in the end, you can believe whatever you want to, this is a brilliant way to end such a tale.

The way that mise-en-scène is used to show Ang Lee’s interpretation of ‘Life of Pi’ is fantasticly used to  immerse the audience into the story. There is always something in each scene that reflects the mood of Pi and the general tone of the story. There are also many metaphors used to show this tone, and many of these were from Martel’s novel. Sometimes these metaphors are lost in translation, but not in this instance.

‘Life of Pi’ is overall a great film and a must-watch. The visual effects are some of the best used in any film, and the way the story is put together is amazing. There is no other film that carries its story over from a novel losing such little amounts of the original book. For these reasons, anyone who has not seen this film should see it as soon as possible. A five-star quality film, simply brilliant.