Sunday Post: Which Do You Prefer?

Something you or may not have inferred from my blogs to this point is that I am a huge fan of movies. I love cinema. I love all the different ways that film makers and actors and visual effects teams work together to create an art that really gets taken for granted in today's society. I try to watch a new movie at least once a week, whether it's a new release or some classic film that I haven't seen before (finally knocked "Pulp Fiction" of the bucket list last week). One of this week's movies was "Life of Pi", the 2013 Oscar winner for Visual Effects and Directing, as well as a nominee for best picture.

I immediately regretted not seeing this in the movie theater, as the visual effects were nothing short of astounding. It was very much like seeing "Avatar" for the first time, I could not believe what my eyes were seeing on my screen, and it would have been wonderful to see it in theaters as it was meant to be seen.

But why am I discussing it on this blog?

In short, my review of the film is: "Come for the visual effects, stay for the religious discussion."

The main character of the story, a boy named Piscine who shortens his name to Pi to avoid the obvious joke from school bullies, is a man of three faiths. Despite his father's belief that "religion is darkness", Pi inherits the traditions of Hinduism from his mother, then later learns to love and form a relationship with God through Christ. He then learns how to to devote himself to prayer by learning from Muslims. It is a fascinating character trait, as most people I know prefer to have one religion or none at all.

The journey that Pi relates is almost impossible to believe, and the man who asked him to tell it was told the story would make him believe in God. While the bulk of the movie is dedicated to the fantastic story of how Pi survives on the pacific ocean on a boat with an adult Bengal Tiger, there is also a scene at the end where he convincingly tells a more plausible (but far darker) version of his journey in order to please people who cannot believe the more grandiose one.

All day I have been asking myself, "Which version of the story is what really happened in the world of this movie?" It took me a while to realize that this isn't the point of the movie.

Pi asks the man interviewing him, "Which story do your prefer?"

Not "Which do you believe?" but "Which do you prefer?" I find that to be a fascinating question. Given the choice between a believable but tragic and heartbreaking story that cannot be proven and a grandiose, farfetched but beautiful story full of meaning that can also not be proven.....what do you really prefer?

It is interesting to me that a movie that spends so much of it's time discussing religion adamantly refuses to take a side. It condemns faith, it condones it, it wonders at the insanity of it and revels in the peace and beauty of it. Is the movie trying to promote all religions as true, or only one? Is it message that you can't mix faiths and have it work, or that you must mix faiths in order to have it be complete? Maybe it's simply saying that it doesn't matter what faith you have, so long as you have it. Or is it's message that the cold, hard truth is that no matter how beautiful your faith, it's ultimately a lie?

Or perhaps.....it's just asking you what you prefer.

For me, I have to agree with the man who was looking for a story that would make him believe in God.

The one with the Tiger is a much better story.