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Life of Pi‘s ending can be confusing, so here’s what really happened to Pi and Richard Parker in the film (and book), as well as all of Life of Pi explained. Ang Lee’s film racked up critical acclaim and pre-award season buzz, along with solid box office numbers. Though, for every mention of Life of Pi‘s beautiful 3D or amazing CGI tiger, there’s a fuddled viewer confused by the movie’s controversial ending.
Readers of Yann Martel’s original novel (the ones who made it to the end) have already faced the challenging last-minute question presented by the story’s narrator, but filmgoers expecting a fanciful adventure at sea have been understandably caught off-guard by the finale. No doubt, viewers will debate the ending with friends and family – but to help steer the discussion, here’s a brief analysis of director Ang Lee’s Life of Pi explained, dissecting why the final question may not be as cut and dry as some moviegoers seem to think.
What Happened In The Life Of Pi
For anyone who hasn’t seen (or read) Life of Pi and isn’t concerned about having the ending spoiled, Life of Pi explained that Pi’s adventure concludes in a Mexican hospital bed, where he is interviewed by a pair of Japanese Ministry of Transport officials. The agents tell Pi that his story — which includes multiple animal companions and a carnivorous island — is too unbelievable for them to report. So, Pi tells them a different version of the story: one that paints a much darker and emotionally disturbing variation of events. After both stories have been shared, Pi leaves it up to the viewer to decide which version they “prefer.”
Personal “preference” has a larger thematic meaning behind the scenes of Life of Pi when viewed in the context of the overarching story. In both accounts, Life of Pi explained that Pi’s father contracts a Japanese ship to transport his family, along with a number of their zoo animals, from India to Canada in an effort to escape political upheaval in their native country. The stories are identical up until Pi climbs aboard the lifeboat (following the sinking of the cargo ship) only re-converging when he is rescued on the Mexican shore. The 227 days that Pi spends lost at sea are up for debate.
Pi’s Animal Story Explained
In this version of Pi’s tale, the Life of Pi explained that the cargo ship sinks and, during the ensuing chaos in the film set at sea, he is joined on the lifeboat by a ragtag group of zoo animals that also managed to escape: an orangutan, a spotted hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, and a Bengal Tiger (named Richard Parker). After some time, Pi watches helplessly as the hyena kills the zebra and then the orangutan before it is, subsequently, dispatched by Richard Parker.
Life of Pi explained that Pi then sets about conditioning the tiger through rewarding behavior (food and fresh water) so that the two can co-exist in the boat. Though Pi succeeds, the pair remain on the verge of starvation. Until, after several months at sea, they wash ashore on an uncharted island packed with fresh vegetation and a bountiful meerkat population. Pi and Richard Parker stuff themselves but soon discover that the Cast Away-type island is home to a carnivorous algae that, when the tide arrives, turns the ground into an acidic trap.
Pi realizes that eventually, the island will consume them. So, as Life of Pi explained, he stocks the lifeboat with greens and meerkats, and the pair sets sail again. When the lifeboat makes landfall along the Mexican coast, Pi and Richard Parker are once again malnourished. As Pi collapses on the beach, he watches the Bengal tiger disappear into the jungle without even glancing back. Pi is brought to a hospital, where he tells the animal story to the Japanese officials. However, when the agents do not believe his tale, the young survivor tells a different version of his journey.
Pi’s Human Story Explained
The fantasy/adventure film Life of Pi explained that in this version of Pi’s tale, the cargo ship still sinks, but instead of the ragtag group of animals in the lifeboat, Pi claims that he was joined by his mother (Gita), the ship’s despicable cook, and an injured Japanese sailor. After some time, fearing for the limited supplies in the boat, the cook kills the weakened Japanese sailor, and later, Gita. Scarred from watching his mother die in front of his eyes, Pi kills the cook in a moment of self-preservation, and revenge.
Pi does not mention his other adventures at sea, such as the island, but it’d be easy to strip away some of the fantastical elements in favor of more grounded (albeit allegorical) situations. Maybe he found an island like Chuck in Cast Away but realized that living is more than just eating and existing, deciding to take his chances at sea instead of wasting away in apathy on a beach eating meerkats all alone. Of course, that is purely speculation — since, again, Life of Pi explained that Pi does not elaborate on the human story beyond the revelation that he was alone on the lifeboat.
The Life Of Pi Ending Twist Explained
Even if the connection between the lifeboat parties was missed, The Life of Pi explained that the writer makes the connection for the audience (or readers): the hyena is the cook, the orangutan is Pi’s mother, the zebra is the sailor, and Richard Parker is Pi. However, the film’s juxtaposition of the animal story and the human story has led many moviegoers to view the last-minute plot point as a finite “twist,” which was not the original intention of Martel with the book, or very likely Ang Lee with the film.
Viewers have pointed to the look of anguish on Pi’s face during his telling of the human story in the film as “proof” that he was uncomfortable facing the true horror of his experience. However, the novel takes the scene in the opposite direction, with Pi expressing annoyance at the two men, criticizing them for wanting “a story they already know.” Either way, much like the ending of Inception, there is no “correct” answer, and as Life of Pi explained, it intentionally leaves the question unanswered so that viewers and readers can make up their own minds.
Facing the final question, it can be easy to forget that, from the outset, The Writer character in Ang Lee’s Life of Pi was promised a story that would make him believe in God. The beginning of the narrative sees Pi struggling to reconcile the differences between faith interpretations, acknowledging that each of them contained value, even if they tell different stories. It was elements that together help him survive his ordeal at sea, as Life of Pi explained. As a result, the larger question is impossible to answer definitively, and, as mentioned, the “truth” of Pi’s story is of little concern to Martel or Lee.
What Life Of Pi’s Ending Really Means
As Life of Pi explained, Pi is faced with a heavy challenge: telling a story that will make a person believe in God. Some listeners might remain unconvinced, but in the case of The Writer in the twisty Life of Pi, who openly admits that he prefers the story with the tiger, and the Japanese officials, who in their closing report remarked on the feat of “surviving 227 days at sea … especially with a tiger,” Pi successfully helps skeptics overcome one of the largest hurdles to faith: believing in the unbelievable.
Since Pi marries The Writer’s preference for the Tiger story with the line, “and so it goes with God,” it’s hard to separate the question entirely from theology. Evidenced by his multi-religion background, Pi does not believe that any of the world’s religions are a one-stop shop for the truth of God, and his goal is not to convert anyone to a specific dogma. Instead, the incredible movie with zero rewatchability explained that his story is set up to help viewers/readers consider which version of the world they prefer: the one where people make their own way and suffer through the darkness via self-determination or the one where people are aided by something greater than themselves.
That said, aside from all the theological implications, and regardless of personal preference, it’s insular to view the Life of Pi ending as simply a dismissal of everything that Pi had previously described (and/or experienced) since, in keeping with his view that every religious story has worthwhile parts, a third interpretation of the ending of the animal movie could be that the “truth” is a mix of both stories. Like Pi and his three-tiered faith routine, people can always pick and choose the parts that benefit their preferred version of Life of Pi.
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