“The war was a decisive experience for us

all. Each of us felt the wild urge to sweep

away all the worn out plots of the Italian

cinema and to set up our cameras in the

midst of real life, in the midst of all

that struck us with dismay” (De Sica 1951,

cited in Leprochon 1966:92)

‘In the late nineteenth century, cinema itself emerged from a

diverse world of toys an machines that created illusions of

movement’ (Villarejo 2007:2). A cinema is a theatre for the display

of films for social leisure. When looking at cinema we also seek to

know the meaning of movies, which is;

‘A Marriage of technique and meaning. Whenever filmmakers lay

out a set, directors act in a certain way, place the camera

in particular positions, and ensemble the resulting mass of

shots into coherent narrative, they not only tell a story,

they also make meaning’ (Ryan & Lenos 2012:1)

Cinema has evolved over time and has gotten better technically,

before it was invented it was a ‘complicated medium as several

optical toys were marketed that gave an illusion of movement by

using a small number of drawings’ (Thompson & Bordwell 2003, 1994)

but as of the 1980s ‘new waves and new cinema emerged’ (Thompson &

Bordwell 2003, 1994). In this essay I will be analyzing a

contemporary film, reflecting critically on themes and readings.

My essay will examine the theoretical and methodological issues in

my choice of film.

The movie I have chosen to examine is Life of pi Directed by Ang

Lee, based on the best selling novel by Yann Martel, the movie

tells the story of an aspiring author who interviews Pi Patel to

hear the narration of his adventure. Pi describes the story in

Pondicherry, India where his father owned a zoo, but he couldn’t

meet up with finances because the municipality was not supporting

the zoo hence he decided to move to Canada with his family where

the animals where to be sold. They embark on a Japanese cargo ship

with the animals to begin a new life. In the middle of the Pacific

Ocean, a huge storm accompanied by a shipwreck occurs causing the

death of everyone on that ship except for Pi Patel. Overall the

director tells the adventurous story of a 16-year-old Indian boy

named Pi Patel also known as Piscine Patel, who survives a ship

wreck and soaring at sea in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named

Richard Parker for 227 days. Overall this essay will show a

critical understanding to Italian Neorealism as some of the

ideology relating to Life of pi.

Neorealism emerged in the 1950’s historically. Pierre Sorlin

defines Neorealism in films as ‘a tendency identified first by

critics, then by spectators, finally turned into a series or rather

a generic field’ (Sorlin 1996:93) derived proximately after the

World War II along side Roberto Rossellini’s film (Open City 1945).

The cruelty of fascism led to the redemption of Neorealism. One of

the most influential critic’s was Andre Bazin as he ‘called

neorealism a cinema of “fact” and “reconstituted reportage” which

contained a message of fundamental human solidarity fostered by the

anti-Fascist Resistance which most of the greatest Italian

directors came of age’ (cited in Bondanella 1995:31). Italian

‘Neorealism is a way of seeing reality without prejudice, without

conventions coming between it and myself-facing it without

preconception’s, looking at it in an honest way-whatever reality

is, not just social reality but all that there is within a man’

(Bondanella 1983: 32) Hence, Italian Neorealism makes use of non

professional actors, no scripts and happy endings thus making

Italian cinema represent ‘a hybrid of traditional and more

experimental techniques’ ( Cited in Bradley, Palmer & Schneider

2006:32) Italian Neo-realism uses key aspects in terms of themes.

“Mis en scene” which is a ‘French theatrical term, meaning,

“placing on stage”’ (Giannetti 1972: 38),

The image above is a scene from life of pi where Richard

Parker and Pi reach a floating Island filled with Meercats and

edible Vegetable’s unknown to them that they are on a carnivorous

island. Mise en scene was very minimal in this scene but also agrees

with the aspects of classic Neorealism influencing ‘filmmakers to

shoot simple stories about ordinary people’ (Cited in Bradley,

Palmer & Schneider 2006:38). The Director evidently aimed to pick a

normal boy from India to make it more realistic and believable as

active Italian neorealism aspects refuse to ‘use stereotyped heroes

or typical scenes and a refusal to use professional actors’ (Liehm

1984:132). The use of long shot was used to show the blue sky, the

boat and some part of the island with Pi and Richard Parker still

visible in the shot but also ensuring that the island and water is

made to be the focus of the shot. The Lightening was very subtle

and agreed with the surrounding avoiding.

‘Colorization also throws off the compositional balance of

some shots, creating new dominants’ (Giannetti 1996:25) In this

shot there is a symbolization of color, the green carnivorous

island represents hope and life making the boat Dominant because it

‘stands out in some kind of isolation from the other elements

within the image (Giannetti 1996:25) making the color of the boat

stand out due to the size and close distance between the camera and

the boat. The Mise en scene in life of pi was projected subtly

choreographing ‘visual elements that correspond to a dramatic idea’

(Giannetti 1996:240) and camera movement, hence twisting the film

to become more agreeable with Italian Neorealism.

The film kicks off with a theme of visual schemes of various

clips of zoo animals as Ang Lee (Director) begins to take us into a

whole new world of the Indian Zoo to engage the mind of the

viewers, acquiring the themes of Italian Neorealism using ‘non-

professional actors, a preference of authentic locations as opposed

to studio sets, an interest in current events and a documentary

style photography’ (Cited in Bradley, Palmer & Schneider 2006:30).

Ang lee made us believe we were in the zoo at that time, he made it

look more realistic and natural, the use of real animals and real

time movement and ‘objects were not to be beautified-the cruder

they were, the purer they appeared, the more authentic, the more

beautiful’ (Liehm 1984:132). The opening music to the first scene

of the animals came in very quietly and then became loud with

momentum, with a woman singing to drums and the sound of animals

noises in the bag round; the music was very dreamy and romantic,

bringing us into this world of rare zoo animals as Italian Neo-

realism ‘arrives at a the total equation of art and extra artistic

reality’ (Liehm 1984:132)

Italian Neorealism is not memorable for happy endings. The

Bicycle Thief is an example of an Italian Neorealist film, directed by

Vittorio De Sica, It tells the story of a poor father in Post World

War II who urgently looks for his stolen bicycle to attain a job to

sustain him and his family. Firstly the Bicycle Thief ticks all the

boxes of being one of the greatest Italian neorealist films made, I

say this because of De Sica’s ‘faith in the expressive powers of

ordinary people’ (Bondanella 2001:56) making he’s amazing work with

non professional actors tell us that the most ‘complicated artifice

can be combined with inexperienced actors by a skillful director’

(Bondanella 2001:56). The realism is that not everything always

ends happily in reality. I would say De Sica’s use of realism

‘abounds in psychological and sociopolitical truths’ (Marcus

1986:67)

Ang lee focused on making the movie look more real to reflect

“reality transposed into the realm of poetry” (De Sica cited in

Bondanella 1983:32), the image above is a scene from Life of Pi where

Pi is seen staring at the beautiful scenery of blue lite jelly

fishes, as he’s playing with the water in awe of the beauty its

radiating, a huge whale swims out of the water destroying Pi’s

little shed and all the food he had, but despite him loosing a lot,

Ang Lee’s main focus was on the beauty of the Pacific ocean in this

shot and what goes on in the Atlantic Ocean at night, conceding to

Verovs impression of “life caught unawares” (Vertov, cited in Liehm

1984:104), this movie surfaces an Italian neorealist film by always

‘remaining primarily an “art” cinema never capturing the mass

public it always tried to gain’(Bondanella 1983:36) when looking at

Bicycle Thief in relation to Life of Pi, there’s a similarity between both

as the Bicycle thief ‘has the force of a novel, so full of meaning

is the symbolism of its few characters’ (Malerba & Weinberg

1955:59) and life of Pi is based on novel be Yann Martel.

At the end of this movie the character (Pi) concludes his

adventure in a Mexican hospital bed where two Japanese transport

officials interview him. Pi’s story on a theoretical level was that

cargo ship sunk and during the chaos, a group of zoo animals that

also managed to escape got into his lifeboat, an orangutan, a

hyena, and zebra with a broken leg, and a Bengal Tiger. The

animal’s feast on themselves leaving him alone starved on the boat

with a hungry tiger (Richard Parker) for 227 days, but he sees the

disappointment in the Japanese officials and tells them a story

they want to hear, as they don’t believe him. He told them the ship

sunk but instead of the animals he uses his mother, which was the

Orangutan, a cook who was the hyena, and a Japanese Sailor with a

broken leg who was the Zebra. The cook kills the sailor and his

mother due to hunger; Pi who is Richard Parker kills the cook for

revenge. This is a clear explanation of a Tonal Montage that means

looking at the emotional aspects and meaning of shots to extract a

reaction that is more compound than regular. The end of this movie

left the viewers to make an interpretation of how they chose to

view stories, either the magical story of the zoo animals or the

story that just made better sense of his mother and the sailor

leaving

The summary above gives a clearer description as to how Life of

Pi engages in neorealist theory. The ideology behind neorealist

films is that ‘they are used to embody meanings, orchestrate formal

themes, demonstrate or refer by analogy to other spheres of

reality’ (Sorlin 1996:94) and is mostly based on the present

situation. When Pi gave the jornalists the fake story just for them

to believe, it showed how much reality has changed especially in

the media, as people no longer want to hear boring stories of

things they feel don’t even exists, Ang Lee depicted the theory of

realism as the character is a human being exhibiting a real life

circumstance as neorealist films deal ‘with actual problems,

contemporary stories and they focused on believable characters’

(Bondanella 1983:34).

De Sica’s film the Bicycle Thief abounds ‘in psychological and

physical truths’ (Marcus 1986:67) Life of pi which engaged in a

Nostalgia “Adventurous Drama’ , Nostalgia in the sense that it

‘reaches back into a past that predates the traumatic losses of

war’ (Hemming’s 2008:3) but in the case of Ang Lee it was

Adventurous and real. In Life of Pi, the character Pi narrates his

story from the beginning to the end of the movie, which was what we

saw visually. He takes us into the world of Pondicherry India,

technically narrating his life as a child with different religions.

Ang Lee’s amazing camera angles show us the best parts of India

unintentionally. The picture bellow shows 2 scenes of Pondicherry

India in Life of Pi. These Pictures are referenced below.

As De Sica’s ‘camera takes great advantage of Rome’s

predominant architectural motif’ (Marcus 1986:72), Ang Lee engages

in the technique also, showing the hustle and bustle of life in

Pondicherry India. Ang Lee focused more on Long shots and Medium

long shots so as to give the viewers a better interpretation of

what he has to show. This film ‘marks a turning point in cinema as

an expression of humanity much more than of social authenticity.’

(Leprohon 1966:89). This movie follows a neorealist style, but

engages in more modern Ideology of film as the movie was shot in

just one location (Swimming pool tank), but due to modern

technology its predominant visual effects led to the computer

generated animals and pool tank.

In Summary Life of Pi is unarguably a Nostalgia film. In

relations to Italian Neorealism, it takes a mark on some of the

advantages of neorealism of turning a film into reality. Life of Pi

is a film that turns your vision into clear reality with its use of

a non professional actor as the main actor and absorbing the feel

of a natural neorealist visionary exhibited in the film.

Images Were referenced.

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