Life of Pi's ending tin be confusing. Nosotros explicate what actually happened to Pi and Richard Parker in the picture show (and book) as well equally what information technology all ways. Ang Lee'southward moving picture racked-upwardly critical acclaim (read our review) and pre-honor season buzz along with solid box function numbers. Though, for every mention of Life of Pi 'southward beautiful 3D or amazing CGI tiger, there's a fuddled viewer dislocated by the picture show's controversial ending.

Readers of Yann Martel's original novel (the ones who made information technology to the stop) have already faced the challenging concluding-infinitesimal question presented past the story'southward narrator, merely filmgoers expecting a fanciful hazard at bounding main have been understandably caught off-guard past the finale. No uncertainty, viewers will debate the catastrophe with friends and family - simply to help steer word we've put together a brief assay of the Life of Pi catastrophe, explaining why the final question may not be as cut and dry as some moviegoers seem to think.

It goes without maxim that the residuum of this commodity will contain MAJOR SPOILERS for Life of Pi - the movie and the book (especially the ending). If you do not want to be spoiled about either, turn away now.

For anyone who hasn't seen (or read) Life of Pi and isn't concerned virtually having the ending spoiled, Pi's run a risk concludes in a Mexican hospital bed - where he is interviewed by a pair of Japanese Ministry building of Send officials. The agents tell Pi that his story - which includes multiple animal companions and a carnivorous island - is too unbelievable for them to report, so Pi tells them a different version of the story: one that paints a much darker and emotionally agonizing variation of events. Afterwards both stories accept been shared, Pi leaves information technology upwards to the viewer (or reader) to decide which version they "prefer."

Personal "preference" has larger thematic meaning, when viewed in the context of the overarching story; still, before we analyze the ending (via the question) in greater detail, we're going to briefly lay out the two versions of Pi's story.

In both accounts, Pi'south father contracts a Japanese ship to transport his family, along with a number of their zoo animals, from India to Canada in an attempt to escape political upheaval in their native land. The stories are identical upwardly until Pi climbs aboard the lifeboat (following the sinking of the cargo send) only re-converging when he is rescued on the Mexican shore. The 227 days that Pi spends lost at sea are up for debate.

Pi'southward  Brute Story

In this version of Pi's tale, the cargo ship sinks and, during the ensuing chaos, he is joined on the lifeboat by a ragtag group of zoo animals that also managed to escape: an orangutan, a spotted hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, and a Bengal Tiger (named Richard Parker). After some time, Pi watches helplessly equally the hyena kills the zebra and and then the orangutan before it is, subsequently, dispatched by Richard Parker. Pi then sets almost conditioning the tiger through rewarding beliefs (food and fresh water), and so that the two can co-exist in the boat. Though Pi succeeds, the pair remain on the verge of starvation - until, after several months at bounding main, they launder ashore an uncharted isle packed with fresh vegetation and a bountiful meerkat population. Pi and Richard Parker stuff themselves, just soon observe that the isle is home to a cannibal algae that, when the tide arrives, turns the ground to an acidic trap. Pi realizes that eventually the isle will consume them - so he stocks the lifeboat with greens and meerkats and the pair sets canvass again. When the lifeboat makes landfall along the Mexican declension, Pi and Richard Parker are once again malnourished - as Pi collapses on the beach, he watches the Bengal Tiger disappear into the jungle without even glancing back.

Pi is brought to a hospital - where he tells the fauna story to the Japanese officials. However, when the agents do not believe his tale, the immature survivor tells a different version of his journey.

Pi's Homo Story

In this version of Pi's tale the cargo ship still sinks, merely instead of the ragtag group of animals in the lifeboat, Pi claims that he was joined by his mother (Gita), the ship'southward despicable cook, and an injured Japanese crewman. Later on some fourth dimension, fearing for the limited supplies in the boat, the cook kills the weakened Japanese sailor, and subsequently, Gita. Scarred from watching his mother dice in front of his eyes, Pi kills the cook in a moment of self-preservation (and revenge).

Pi does non mention his other adventures at ocean (the carnivorous island, etc) but it'd be easy to strip abroad some of the fantastical elements in favor of more grounded (albeit allegorical) situations. Perchance he constitute an island but realized that living is more than simply eating and existing - deciding to accept his chances at sea instead of wasting away in aloofness on a embankment eating meerkats all alone. Of class, that is purely speculation - since, again, Pi does non elaborate on the more than grounded human story beyond the revelation that he was alone on the lifeboat.

Life of Pi Ending Explained

Even if the connection between the lifeboat parties was missed, the writer makes the connexion for the audience (or readers): the hyena is the cook, the orangutan is Pi's female parent, the zebra is the sailor, and Richard Parker is Pi. Nonetheless, the film's juxtaposition of the animal story and the human being story has led many moviegoers to view the last-infinitesimal plot bespeak as a finite "twist" - which was non the original intention of Martel (with the book) or very likely Lee (with the pic). Viewers accept pointed to the expect of ache on Pi's face during his telling of the human story in the film as "proof" that he was uncomfortable facing the truthful horror of his experience. However, the novel takes the scene in the opposite direction, with Pi expressing annoyance at the two men - criticizing them for wanting "a story they already know." Either fashion, much like the ending of Inception (read our explanation of that ending), in that location is no "correct" answer - and Life of Pi intentionally leaves the question unanswered so that viewers (and readers) can brand up their own mind.

Facing the terminal question, information technology tin exist easy to forget that, from the outset, The Writer character was promised a story that would make him believe in God. In the commencement part of the narrative, we see Pi struggling to reconcile the differences between faith interpretations (Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam) - acknowledging that each of them contained valuable elements, even if they tell different stories (elements that together assistance him survive his ordeal at sea regardless of whether or not he was at that place with a tiger).

As a outcome, the larger question is impossible to answer definitively and, every bit mentioned, the "truth" of Pi's story is of little concern to Martel or Lee. The real question is - which story do you, the viewer/reader adopt? Interpretation is subjective but the question is intended to serve every bit a moment of theological reflection. Are you a person that prefers to believe in things that always brand sense/things that yous tin see? Or are you a person that prefers to believe in miracles/have things on organized religion? There are no correct or wrong answers - just an opportunity for introspection.

Pi is faced with a heavy challenge: telling a story that will make a person believe in God. Some listeners might remain unconvinced just in the case of The Writer, who openly admits that he prefers the story with the tiger, and the Japanese officials, who in their closing report remarked on the feat of "surviving 227 days at sea... specially with a tiger," Pi successfully helps skeptics overcome ane of the largest hurdles to faith - assertive in the unbelievable.

Since Pi marries The Author's preference for the Tiger story with the line, "and so information technology goes with God," it's hard to divide the question entirely from theology. Evidenced by his multi-religion background, Pi does non believe that any of the world'southward religions are a one-finish shop for the truth of God - and his goal is not to convert anyone to a specific dogma. Instead, his story is prepare to help viewers/readers consider which version of the world they prefer - the i where we make our ain way and suffer through the darkness via self-determination, or the ane where nosotros are aided by something greater than ourselves (regardless of which version of "God" we may have).

That said, bated from all the theological implications, and regardless of personal preference, it's insular to view the ending equally simply a dismissal of everything that Pi had previously described (and/or experienced) - since, in keeping with his view that every religious story has worthwhile parts, a third interpretation of the catastrophe could be that the "truth" is a mix of both stories. Like Pi and his 3-tiered faith routine, the viewer/reader can ever pick and choose the parts that do good their preferred version of the tale.

The "truth": Pi survived for 227 days at sea, married the girl of his dreams, had children, and lived to tell two stories.

Similar whatever quality piece of amusement, a lot of this is subjective and there are multiple ways of interpreting the Life of Pi catastrophe, then feel free to (respectfully) share your interpretation with fellow moviegoers in the annotate section below.

-

For an in-depth discussion of the pic by the Screen Rant editors cheque out ourLife of Pi episode of the SR Secret podcast.

Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick for more onLife of Pialso equally future moving picture, TV, and gaming news.

Life of Pi is now available on home video - besides equally select streaming platforms. It is Rated PG for emotional thematic content throughout, and some scary activity sequences and peril.

Tim Burton'due south Batman Secretly Explained Joker'due south Disruptive Origin Mystery

About The Author

Ben Kendrick (1439 Articles Published)

Ben Kendrick is the one-time Content Director (and current moving picture critic) of Screen Rant, CBR, and Collider as well as host of the Screen Rant Underground and Total Geekall podcast. He is a fellow member of the Denver Film Critics Society too as the Online Picture show Critics Club - with piece of work referenced, cited, or syndicated on CNN, Wikipedia, Huffington Post, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Yahoo, and Business organisation Insider, amid others. A graduate of the New School'southward Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, Ben has been passionate about movies always since continuing in line for a midnight showing of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when he was eight years-old. Thanks to a background in fiction writing, Ben is drawn to films that make story and character a priority; however, that doesn't stop him from enjoying a range of Hollywood offerings - from blockbuster action flicks to campy so-bad-they're-good B-movies.

Visit Ben Kendrick's website for info on his fiction work, follow him on Twitter @benkendrick, or check out what he's doing at present over at Rising at Seven.

More From Ben Kendrick