《少年派的奇幻漂流》是根據揚·馬特爾於2001年發表的同名小說而改編的一部3D電影，由李安執導，2012年11月22日在中國內地上映。影片講述少年派成長於1970年代的印度朋迪榭裡，他的父親開了一家動物園，派整天與老虎、斑馬、河馬和其他異國動物為伍，對信仰、人和動物的本性自有一套看法。派遇到一次海難，家人全部喪生，他與一隻孟加拉虎在救生小船上漂流了227天，人與虎建立起一種奇特的關係，並最終共同戰勝困境獲得重生。2013年，該片在第85屆奧斯卡獎頒獎禮上獲得了包括最佳導演、最佳視覺效果在內的四項獎項。
電影中呈現出的自然界萬象，有萬物生長、自然唯美的平靜，也有波濤洶湧的殘酷。海難後在大海上漂流時，海洋下掩藏著的奇形怪狀、五彩繽紛的水下生物遊來逛去。深夜裡海天相接，靜謐的大海與夜空的星星交相輝映，派的小船如同是停靠在一個美麗巨大的鏡面。我陶醉在一幅幅奇幻畫面裡，突然醒悟到：我看這部電影本來的目的是要學英語的，而這部電影居然如此聲色迷人！
Life of Pi is a 2012 American survival drama film based on Yann Martel's 2001 novel of the same name. Directed by Ang Lee, the film's adapted screenplay was written by David Magee, and it stars Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Tabu Hashmi, Adil Hussain, and Gérard Depardieu. The storyline revolves around an Indian man named "Pi" Patel, telling a novelist about his life story, and how at 16 he survives a shipwreck and is adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. The film had its worldwide premiere as the opening film of the 51st New York Film Festival at both the Walter Reade Theater and Alice Tully Hall in New York City on September 28, 2012.
Life of Pi emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning over US$609 million worldwide. It was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards which included the Best Picture – Drama and the Best Director and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. At the 85th Academy Awards it had eleven nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and won four (the most for the event) including Best Director for Ang Lee.
Plot
In Canada, a young writer meets Pi Patel; The writer has been told that Pi's life story would be a good subject for a book. Pi tells his story to him:
Pi's father names him Piscine Molitor Patel after the swimming pool in France. In secondary school in Pondicherry, he adopts the name "Pi" (the Greek letter, π) to avoid the sound-alike nickname "Pissing Patel". He is raised in a Hindu family, but at 12 years old, is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and decides to follow all three religions as he "just wants to love God". His mother supports his desire to grow, but his rationalist father tries to secularize him. Pi's family owns a zoo, and Pi takes interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. After Pi gets dangerously close to Richard Parker, his father forces him to witness the tiger killing a goat.
When Pi is 16, his father announces that they must move to Canada, where he intends to settle and sell the animals. The family books passage with the animals on a Japanese freighter. During a storm, the ship founders while Pi is on deck. He tries to find his family, but a crewman throws him into a lifeboat. A freed zebra jumps onto the boat with him, breaking its leg. The ship sinks into the Mariana Trench drowning his family. Pi briefly sees what appears to be a survivor, but it turns out to be Richard Parker.
After the storm, Pi awakens in the lifeboat with the zebra, and is joined by a resourceful orangutan. A spotted hyena emerges from under a tarpaulin covering half of the lifeboat and snaps at Pi, forcing him to retreat to the end of the boat. The hyena kills the zebra and later the orangutan. Richard Parker emerges from under the tarpaulin, killing the hyena before retreating back to cover for several days.
Pi fashions a small tethered raft from flotation vests which he retreats to for safety from Richard Parker. Despite his moral code against killing, he begins fishing, enabling him to sustain the tiger as well. When the tiger jumps into the sea to hunt for fish and then comes threateningly towards Pi, Pi considers letting him drown, but ultimately helps him back into the boat. One night, a humpback whale breaches near the boat, destroying the raft and its supplies. Pi trains Richard Parker to accept him in the boat, and realizes that caring for the tiger is also helping keep himself alive.
Weeks later they encounter a floating island of interconnected trees. It is a lush jungle of edible plants, fresh water pools and a large population of meerkats, enabling Pi and Richard Parker to eat and drink freely and regain strength. At night, the island transforms into a hostile environment. Richard Parker retreats to the lifeboat while Pi and the meerkats sleep in the trees; the water pools turn acidic, digesting the fish in them. Pi deduces that the island is carnivorous after finding a human tooth embedded in a flower.
Pi and Richard Parker leave the island, eventually reaching the coast of Mexico. Pi is saddened that Richard Parker does not acknowledge him before disappearing into the jungle. He is rescued and brought to a hospital. Insurance agents for the Japanese freighter company interview him, but do not believe his story and ask what really happened. He tells a different story, in which the animals are replaced by human survivors: his mother for the orangutan, an amiable sailor for the zebra, and the ship's brutish cook for the hyena. In this story, the cook kills the sailor and feeds on his flesh. He also kills Pi's mother after which Pi kills him with a knife and uses his remains as food and fish bait. The insurance agents are dissatisfied with this story, but they leave without questioning Pi further.
The writer recognizes the parallels between the two stories, noting that in the second one, Pi fills the role of the tiger. Pi asks which story the writer prefers, and the writer chooses the first, to which Pi replies, "and so it goes with God". Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the writer sees that the agents also chose the first story.
Characters:
Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel
The Writer
Gita Patel, Pi's mother
Santosh Patel, Pi's father
Ravi Patel, Pi's older brother:
the Cook
Sailors
Anandi, Pi's teenage girlfriend
the Priest
Francis
Anandi's dance teacher
^ Pi refers to Francis in the film as "Mamaji", a Hindi word for "Maternal Uncle"
About the Music
The film's musical score was composed by Mychael Danna, who previously wrote the music to Lee's films The Ice Storm and Ride with the Devil. A soundtrack album of the music was released by Sony Classical Records on 16 November 2012. The album features the track "Pi's Lullaby", which was co-written by Danna and Bombay Jayashri, who performs the song in Tamil.