Life of Pi - What a wonderful treatment of an incredible book. A visual treat, thrilling and uplifting, tragic and victorious. The interaction between the author and protagonist was a bit flat against the other parts of the film, yet served an important purpose. And contrary to what the review I heard on the radio seemed to indicate in some of the details it shared, this movie adhered pretty closely to the book, with its divergences driven by the medium. By and large, I was pretty pleased with it.
It's really unfair for it to suffer so by comparison with Lincoln. I understand why Spielberg wasn't willing to make this film without Daniel Day-Lewis, who so convincingly becomes every character he portrays, and brought both the sheer physical stature and the dedication to detail to carry off a role that so intimidated him that he first refused it. This film, as I presume the book on which it was based, was a fascinating peek into the political machinations of Lincoln's day and of the abolition effort. It made clear how politicians sometimes must use their opposition's perspective to win them over, as it was clear even to those who were adamant about racial equality that they could not hope to gain even the abolition of slavery if they clung to the path of true equality which they knew to ultimately be in the right.
Perhaps most importantly, it illustrates how important it is to not allow fear of the future to undermine our willingness to do the right thing now. We allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the unknown repercussions of doing the right thing. This is a lesson I learned by experience: even the most dreaded consequences that come to pass are less fearsome in their reality than they are in our anticipation of them.
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