My thoughts on the Life of Pi (spoiler alert!). Not a review, but my thoughts on the themes of the movie. Feel free to chime in!
It is a beautiful movie- the cinematography is excellent, the visuals are engaging. It has an interesting story and explores themes that matter. This is the type of movie I really enjoy, one that leaves me thinking for a few days after seeing it.
The movie presents you with a series of unlikely events that Pi experiences as he survives a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and then months drifting at sea with a tiger for company. Afterwards, Pi presents an alternative narrative to the events of the film. One that is much less magical. The second narrative is easier to believe, but not very satisfying, The audience is then presented with the choice of which story to believe.
My family feels that the film ends with the first (more fantastical version) of the story as the "truth", but I didn't feel that way. I think that the characters in the film all chose to believe the first version, leaving the audience with the impression that it must have been the "true" version of the events. They chose to believe the first version because it was more magical, heroic, and satisfying.
And here is where the ideas of the movie have stuck with me. We are introduced to Pi's story as a story that will "make you believe in God." This could mean that watching Pi go through near-magical events that lead not only to his survival, but also to his strengthened faith in the divine, will strengthen our faith as well. But I see a different message in the film. Pi went through a horrific event, watching his family perish at sea and then surviving alone (or perhaps with a tiger) for months afterward. But then he was able to assemble a version of the events that was beautiful and gave meaning to life.
Just as we have to endure traumatic events but are free to choose to believe in a version of the universe in which there is a loving father watching over us, where our lives have meaning beyond the day-to-day activities, and where our deaths are not permanent, but only a chapter in the book of our life.
A few months ago, this message would have resonated with me. And I still feel that it is a positive message. But it's also a bit cynical. It is a message that faith is really not much more than a choice we make and that it doesn't really matter if belief in the divine is a belief in something "true." If it gives richness and meaning to our lives, then it is positive whether it's "true" or not.
I felt this way before I had lymphoma. I believe that in many ways, God gives us enough light to see our next step in the darkness, but not much more than that. Maybe life has to be that way. Without doubt, how can we have faith? But sometimes our doubts can feel stronger than our faith. And it can feel like faith in God is not much different than faith in Santa Claus. That faith is a story we tell ourselves to make life bearable when it is hard to bear.
But that hasn't been my experience the last few months. When Christina and I found out that I had cancer, we both immediately felt a blanket of comfort surrounding us. It wasn't something I had to look for. It wasn't something that I had to talk myself into because I was terrified of the trial which had suddenly come into our lives. I feel that this feeling is completely outside of me and that it is my Heavenly Father telling me that things will be all right. I think that means that I'll live through this trial, but even if I don't, I know that He is watching out for my family. My point is that I've been given I've been given more light than I'm accustomed to and it wasn't because I made an arbitrary choice to believe.
I've seen this happen to other people as well. I've seen people bear testimony after a family member had died that they felt at peace and felt comfort from the Holy Spirit that their loved one was still alive (spiritually, of course). And I wondered if they really felt that way, or if they were choosing to believe that because the alternative was just too awful to bear. And now I know- that peace is real and we really can have the knowledge that our families can be together again.
And there will be pie!
2 comments:
Just have to say, I still think the point was that people rationalize things they do not understand or cannot believe instead of having faith. The main character lied to the insurance company after they would not accept
his story. He wasn't the type that would lie to himself. I think the point was, even after we have been saved by miracles, we can choose to rationalize.
But, I enjoyed reading your thoughts. You know I've thought about faith a lot durring the past few years and have gained many new perspectives on why it is nessacary for our eternal progression. Through this trial I have learned something new.
I feel we are given direction and knowledge and then left to act on it by ourselves. I might feel a strong spiritual prompting to do something, but that doesn't always stay while I follow through. In the beginning I felt the calm reassurance that everything was going to be okay, but, although I have felt it since in the temple and after the blessing you gave me, most of the time I have to remind myself I have felt that way. Most days are filled with the constant mental hum of "what if's" and the nights are even worse. (Especially when "okay" could mean a lot of outcomes.)
But I agree with you completely about having experienced the comforting, reassuring love and peace of those early days and I too have, in the past, been guilty of wondering if humans manufactured these things as coping mechanisms. I am happily humbled and repentant and I hope never to rationalize that away.
I love you!
This movie is a cinematographic masterpiece!!! I was totally mesmerized and lifted into another world. The sensory richness was almost more than real life.
I also was touched with a patina of real spirituality throughout the movie; And just as the movie portrayed some alternate realities, it leads one to ponder if there just might be more to "life" than what we are now experiencing!
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