Ang Lee’s Life of Pi vis-à-vis Thy Womb

Ang Lee is a familiar name to most Pinoy gay movie followers as the director of Brokeback Mountain in 2005, which dealt with romantic and sexual relationships between two macho cowboys in the American West, and won in Venice and in the Academy Awards. Later, in 2009, Brillante Mendoza won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for his dark crime story Kinatay, beating consistent winner Ang Lee whose entry was Taking Woodstock.

Today, we are prone to believe that Brillante and Lee would once again meet on equal footing with the latter’s Life of Pi against Thy Womb. Lee, born in Taiwan in 1954 with 13 films starting 1992 is a definitely experienced senior to Brillante, born 1960, who started directing late in 2005, yet managed 16 films to date.

The biggest difference between them is that Lee works with storied Hollywood studios, while Brillante is an independent director working on his own. Thus, Life of Pi is an epic drama of magic realism in shimmering 3D, often compared to Avatar. Nevertheless, both their films have things in common. Both Life of Pi and Thy Womb are personal journeys of principals in search of answers from their own gods. Pi risks the perils of the universe for 227 days in the company of a Bengal tiger. Nora Aunor as Badjao midwife Shaleha will risk losing her husband played by Bembol Roco if that is what is expected of her.

We were invited by 20th Century Fox to a preview of Life of Pi opening today adapted from the best-selling book by Yann Martel. The film started with various names from 2005 until Lee came aboard. Although the novel had initially been tagged un-filmable, and the budget of Lee too high, Fox gave the green light and principal photography began on January 2011 in India and Taiwan after Lee chose Suraj Sharma in the role of Pi. The 17-year-old newcomer out of 3,000 who auditioned had undergone extensive training in ocean survival, yoga and meditation in preparation for the part.

Ang Lee, Brillante Mendoza

Lee had long envisioned Life of Pi to become his first foray into 3D filmmaking even before Avatar had been shown. Pi grew up amongst tigers, zebras and animals in their family zoo in India until his dad stopped his trying to befriend the Bengal tiger Richard Parker, telling him, “Animals don’t think like we do; people who forget that get themselves killed!”

However, Pi continued to exhibit signs of independence like believing in Christianity, Buddhism and Islam at the same time. When business proved difficult in India, the family closed the zoo, packed a few animals and took a cargo ship bound for Canada. After stopping by Manila for supplies, late at night at the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, the ship encounters a heavy storm and begins to sink. Pi is thrown into a lifeboat unto the rough sea, as he watches the ship sink killing his family and its crew.

After the storm, Pi finds himself in the lifeboat with an injured zebra, an orangutan, a spotted hyena and the Bengal tiger Richard Parker. Much time is spent as the animals kill each other, and as Pi and Richard Parker are left alone, Pi remembers his father’s words and goes about disciplining the tiger from a raft he has built and later from the boat itself.

The two face nature’s majestic grandeur and fury, which would lash at their small lifeboat. On one particularly monstrous storm, Pi looks up at the heavens pleading to God, “I’ve lost everything! I surrender! What more do you want?” But through it all, he never really loses hope. On other occasions, they experience the indescribable beauty of the ocean from its rainbow hues of flying fish, the shimmering blues of the ocean’s swells, to a radiant humpback whale streaking to the surface.       

After longer weeks at sea, nearing the end of their strength, they reach a beautiful floating island of edible plants, fresh water pools and hundreds of meerkats. But evening brings change with the water turning acidic and the plants carnivorous devouring everything in sight. To us, this was close to a hallucination?

As their lifeboat reaches the coast of Mexico and help is in sight, Richard Parker leaves the boat and heads for the jungle without as much as a by your leave. Pi weeps as he is carried away. Was this what his father meant, that animals are not like people?

In the hospital, insurance agents for the cargo ship need a report of the incident and cannot accept his unbelievable account. He tells them another one, close to it, but more mundane. It is for the audience to make their choice.

The Village Voice panned it; The Los Angeles Times called it a “masterpiece;” New York Times criticized its narrative frame; The Sun Herald said it was “flawed” but “creative.” Locally, 15-year-old Alrick Chua wrote that, “you have to listen more than you watch.”

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