Essay Example on The Life of Pi: An Insightful Visual Treat That Brings Profound Truths

I had not watched the movie "The Life of Pi" before, but I can confidently say that I am glad that I had to watch it today. The film is not only incredibly deep in terms of its visual treat, but it is also based on an extremely captivating story. Numerous dialogues taking place in the film conveyed insightful messages to the viewers, and I am truly moved by how the film has brought to light various profound truths regarding what being human is all about. I had the ill notion that the movie might be boring at the start, but I later realized that Pi's adventure is tremendously relatable to modern-day lives, which I consider to be the most captivating attribute about the film. I will discuss some of the attributes that I believe the movie seeks to communicate to the audience.

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In the film, I realized that the relationship between Richard Parker and Pi was established on the basis of circumstance and need. All human relationships are developed based on circumstance and need, which is expressly depicted in the film. Parker and Pi hate each other at the beginning, but this attribute changes with time whereby they start to tolerate one another. To a greater extent, adversity usually binds people together, and it happens to the pair. The interactions between individuals are the basis of religion, which is a primary focus in this reflection paper. Being a polytheist, the beliefs held by Pi may not be consistent with what most of us believe it today. However, the most special thing about Pi is that he adhered to some strong universal morals, which tremendously helped him sail through various challenges in his life (Stephens, 2010). Based on this attribute, it is essential that humans find something to believe in, which plays a central role in ensuring that they keep going regardless of good or bad times. This is also crucial in helping people in weathering life storms while also providing guidance and comfort during the worst experiences.

The Life of Pi film raises the believability question towards the end. Believability is directly related to belief in God and religion. Pi holds the belief that God exists and influences his life on a daily basis. He strongly believes that God played a center stage when he survived the entire ordeal he experienced. From this attribute, I can say that humans should acknowledge that just because they cannot see something the implication is not that it is unreal. I believe that Pi was very accurate in communication to the audience that we should believe in some supernatural power that looks upon us and our actions.

Based on the believability aspect depicted in the film, I believe that we should at least believe in something. Individuals need to choose something that they can say to be believable in diverse situations. For Pi, the choice is to believe in different religions. However, what I have realized from my understanding of the film is that what he obtains from every religion is love. It may as well be said that Pi believed in both love and God. Pi is capable of seeing love in life even at the time he found himself stranded in the ocean. The attribute of extracting love even from challenging situations helps him connect with Parker even after they have expressed hate for each other earlier on (Stephens, 2010). The love of life and faith depicted by Pi is critical in keeping him alive on his illustrious journey.

From my understanding of the Life of Pi film, I believe it is possible to extract two dominant religious narratives that may be perceived to be undermining the Christian faith. These are religious pluralism and religion as a tool that projects the deepest desires or wishes of humans. Religious pluralism asserts that it is not possible to have a single religion that is considered to be true (Bolton, 2013). According to this narrative, it is important to acknowledge that there are multiple roads that may lead us to God. For this reason, Christianity may be regarded as one of the many paths that may lead us to God. This message is relevant to individuals who are always insisting that their way or religion is true, which makes them undermine other religions. At some point, Pi calls himself a "Hindu Catholic" (Stephens, 2010). Later on, he seems to embrace Islam despite being enchanted by a friend who subscribes to the Buddhist religion. The implication is that Pi shows open-minded religious plurality, and he admits that no single religion may be argued to corner or monopolize the truth.

Ideally, we are living in a pluralistic culture. We interact with individuals with vastly diverse perspectives from our own. The aspect of religious pluralism manifested in the film should be enhanced through media and education whereby people come to understand that no single individual is capable of knowing the ultimate truth (Bolton, 2013). As such, all of us needs to admit that every religion is one of the multiple valid paths of leading fulfilling lives. Through Pi's acknowledgment of a multitude of religions, we may learn that there is no a single-stop shop that may make understand God's truth. As such, Pi does not seek to convert any individual towards a specific religion, but endeavors to choose the specific world version of their preference, a version that is characterized by self-determination regardless of the circumstances faced.

I have always believed in God. To this end, The Life of Pi film reinforces my belief in God. This is accomplished through the story of animals. Pi asserts that our preference for animals is an indication that who chooses to believe in what is impossible, which translates to faith. The choice of belief in the impossible and faith translated to the belief in God. The choice of God indicates that I believe in the world whereby things that are unbelievable and magic are in existence. I have the belief that in this world, I am aided by God in many ways.

References

Bolton, C. (2013). Life of Pi. Journal of Religion & Film, 17(1), 42. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=jrf

Stephens, G. (2010). Feeding Tiger, Finding God: Science, Religion, and" the Better Story" in Life of Pi. Intertexts, 14(1), 41-59. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1353/itx.2010.0004