The NYFF New York Film Festival is celebrating 50 years and in true New York style pulling out all the stops.  Opening night Sept. 28^th,  the curtain rises on Ang Lee’s spectacular 3D film adaptation of Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi”. Oscar nominee David Magee (Finding Neverland) has adapted the book to the screen and the music has been created by acclaimed Canadian composer Mychael Danna.

“Life of Pi” is an extraordinary fantasy adventure story told from the vantage point of a young Indian boy, Piscine Molitor “Pi” (Suraj Sharma), who is stranded at sea with some surprising castaways. The central story is that of Pi who must survive for 227 days in the Pacific Ocean in the company of a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker, a spotted hyena, an injured zebra and an orangutan. He must overcome great physical and spiritual obstacles with only his own ingenuity and inner strength. He does so with remarkable intuitiveness and courage. Pi has an unusual approach to interpreting life that allows him to endure and succeed under these grueling circumstances. He has been raised as a Hindu, a Christian and with Islam.

There are really three stories in the book “Life of Pi”, the central one being the incredible voyage of survival at sea with the Bengal Tiger and the series of events that lead to the deaths of the other animals. Preceding this part of the book is the story of an older Pi who reveals that his early childhood was spent in India in Pondicherry where his family owned a zoo. This was where he learned about the wild animals and their behavior. Pi’s family has to leave India with their animals for Canada and shortly after their voyage begins their ship sinks. The rest of the story is told by Pi in two versions. The movie follows the version of the boy shipwrecked with the animals. It is a fantastical adventure, which includes landing on a mysterious island where Pi stays and gains back a lot of his strength. The island is inhabited by meerkats and strange algae that Pi discovers is carnivorous. He has to escape the island and Richard Parker (the tiger) goes with him.

The final story in the book is rather surprising altogether. Pi reaches the coast of Mexico and leaves Richard Parker escaping into the jungle. Pi is rescued and the officials want to make a report about what happened to the ship. When Pi relates his story they don’t believe it. So Pi tells a very different, much more horrible story. It is very believable. Each of the animals in the story becomes one of the humans in Pi’s life and the struggle for survival on the small lifeboat is very gruesome and heart wrenching.