The Life of Pi is a film that will keep you thinking for days after watching. Truthfully, it is my favorite novel, and one of my favorite films. It begs for the questions of life to be asked. What does it mean to be human? What’s our role in life? How do we interact with God? Is God real or a philosophical construct? There is so much content in this movie, this will event will be worth your time.
Leader Notes
- “A story that would make you believe in God” Do we have stories like this?
- “No one knows God unless someone introduces them’
- “Don’t let the spectacle fool you—religion is darkness”
- God vs. western medicine?
- The atonement as complete paradox—why would God do that?
- Reason as the fourth religion
- This film is really an elaborate painting about the problem of evil—is there really any meaning in suffering or not?
- Who is God and what does he want from us?
- Noah sort of theme—one man’s salvation so that God’s story can go on.
- Is Richard Parker a metaphor for suffering?
- Saying goodbye to Richard Parker is a way of talking about mourning suffering…
- “if it happened, it happened. Why does it have to mean anything?”
- “We need a story that won’t make us look like fools. One that our company can understand. A story we can all believe.”
- The truth: a story without things we’ve never seen before.
- Does Richard Parker represent his evil side—his carnal side? The animalistic side?
- “Believing in everything at the same time is the same as not believing in anything at all.”
- “In a few hundred years, science has taken us farther in understanding the universe than religion has in 10,000.”
- In what ways is “reason” a kind of religion?
- “Faith is a house with many rooms”
- What stops Pi from killing Richard Parker when he has the chance?
- Pi speaks to God on a number of different occasions while he is in the boat. Do you see any sort of progression in these prayers? What has he “learned” about God in his time at sea?
- What do you think is the symbolic significance of the “carnivorous Island?” How do you see it fitting in with the overall themes of the film?
- What do you think is the symbolic significance of Richard Parker?
- “I’ve told you two stories about what happened out on the ocean.” Neither explains the sinking of the ship, and no one can prove which story is true and which is not. In both stories, the ship sinks, my family dies, and I suffer. So, which story do you prefer?
- “So the story has a happy ending.” That’s up to you. The story is yours now.”
Questions for Discussion
- What do you see as the film’s perspective on different religions? What is the film’s perspective on God (and the human condition), and how does the film develop those themes?
- At the end of the film, Pi says, “I’ve told you two stories about what happened out on the ocean. Neither explains the sinking of the ship, and no one can prove which story is true and which is not. In both stories, the ship sinks, my family dies, and I suffer. So, which story do you prefer?”
- I want to reiterate his question—which story do you prefer and why?
- Does the idea of choosing what is “true” bother you? If so, why? If not, why not?
- What is “truth” from the perspective of the film?
- At the end of the day what would you say this film is REALLY about?
- If you see the tiger as a fiction, what do you think it represents (other than Pi himself)? Do you think it has some kind of symbolic value in the story?
- There are certain places where the film’s cinematography departs from the overly vibrant coloration. Did you notice where this happens? If so, what do you think it means?