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LIFE OF PI CHOICE

BOARD
Certificate of
Game Board
Letter to Pi
Recognition

Present a certificate of
recognition to Pi Patel. Think
of the words that you will
include in the citation of
honor. Let it signed by each
members of the group.

Create a game board to


fit the story and
events.

Write a letter to Pi Patel. Tell


about your groups thoughts
and feelings about his amazing
experiences in the movie.

Acrostic

Musically Yours..

Using the title of the film :


LIFE OF PI, create an
acrostic that summarizes and
highlights the significant
human experiences shown in
the movie.

Group Reflection
Journal

Think of three songs that can


be used as soundtrack of the
movie Life of Pi. Perform a
mash-up of these songs in
class.

Write a group journal that


reflects on the theme and
values shared by the film.

Collage

Photo Essay

Brief Movie Review

Create a photo essay that


highlights the plot of the film.
Identify the most interesting,

Write a brief review of the movie,


highlighting what you liked about
the film and why you would or
would not recommend this story to

Religion is one of the themes


of the film, Life of Pi. Create
a group collage that

SYNOPSIS OF THE FILM LIFE OF PI


Pi Patel, an immigrant from Pondicherry in India living in Montreal, Canada, is approached by a local novelist who
has been referred to him by his "uncle" (a family friend), believing that Pi's life story would make a great book. Pi
relates an extended tale:
His parents had named him Piscine Molitor after a swimming pool in France. He changes his name to "Pi" (the
mathematical symbol,) when he begins secondary school (Gautam Belur), even repeating numerous digits of pi,
because he is tired of being taunted with the nickname "Pissing Patel". His family owns a local zoo, and Pi takes an
interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker because of a clerical error. Pi tries to feed
the tiger, endangering himself to being attacked, and to teach him the reality of the tiger's nature as a carnivore,
Pi's father, Santosh Patel forces him to witness it killing a goat. He is raised Hindu and vegetarian, but at 12 years
old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and starts to follow all three religions as he "just wants to
love God." When asked if he is also Jewish, he replies that he lectures in Kabbalah at the university.
When Pi is 16, his father decides to close the zoo and move his family to Canada, and sell the zoo animals, to
ensure a good future for his children. They book passage with their animals (to be sold in North America) on a
Japanese freighter named the Tsimtsum. On board the ship, Pi's father gets into an argument with the ship's cook
when he speaks to Pi's mother, Gita Patel rudely. One night, the ship encounters a heavy storm and begins to sink
while Pi is on deck marveling at the storm. He tries to find his family, but a crew member throws him into a
lifeboat; from the rough sea, he watches helplessly as the ship sinks, killing his family and its crew.
After the storm, Pi finds himself in the lifeboat with an injured zebra, and is joined by an orangutan, named
Orange Juice, who lost her offspring in the shipwreck. A spotted hyena emerges from the tarp covering half of the
boat, and kills the zebra. To Pi's distress, the hyena also mortally wounds the orangutan in a fight. Suddenly
Richard Parker emerges from under the tarp, and kills and eats the hyena.
Pi finds emergency food and water rations on the boat. He builds a small raft of flotation devices so that he can
stay at a safe distance from the tiger. Realizing that he must feed the tiger to protect himself, Pi begins fishing,
with some success. He also collects rain water for both to drink. At one point, he makes a board ladder for the
tiger to climb back into the boat after it had jumped off to hunt fish. In a nighttime encounter with a breaching
whale, Pi loses much of his supplies. Faced with starvation, he eats raw fish. After many days at sea, Pi realizes
that he can no longer live on the tiny raft and trains the tiger Richard Parker to accept him in the boat. He also
realizes that caring for the tiger is keeping him alive.
After weeks longer at sea, near the end of their strength, they reach a floating island of edible plants, supporting
a forest, fresh water pools, and a large population of meerkats. Both Pi and Richard Parker eat and drink freely
and regain strength. But at night the island transforms into a hostile environment, with the fresh water turning
acidic, digesting all the dead fish that died in the pools. The tiger returns to the lifeboat at night. Pi finds a
human tooth inside a plant flower and concludes that the plants are carnivorous, requiring them to leave the
island.
The lifeboat eventually reaches the coast of Mexico. Finally back on land, Richard Parker stumbles away from Pi
and stops at the edge of the jungle. Pi expects that the tiger will turn toward him and acknowledge him, but
instead he looks into the jungle for a while and goes in. Pi, too weak to follow, lies in the sand. He is rescued by a
group who carry him to hospital, but he weeps that the tiger had walked away without him.
In hospital, insurance agents for the Japanese freighter come to hear his account of the incident. They find his
story unbelievable, and ask him to tell them what "really" happened, if only for the credibility of their report. He
answers with a less fantastic but detailed account of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken
leg, and the cook. In this story, the cook kills the sailor to use him as bait and food. In a later struggle, Pi's mother
pushes him to safety on a smaller raft, and the cook stabs her as she falls overboard to the sharks. Later, Pi
returns to grab the knife and kills the cook.
In the present, the writer notes parallels between the two stories: the orangutan was Pi's mother, the zebra was
the sailor, the hyena was the cook, and Richard Parker, the tiger, was Pi himself. Pi asks him which story the writer
prefers; he chooses the one with the tiger because it "is the better story", to which Pi responds, "And so it is with
God". Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the writer notices a closing comment about the remarkable feat

TRUE OR FALSE

1. A local novelist interviewed Pi because he was


looking for a material for his novel.
2. Pi was named after a swimming pool.
3. Pi followed four religions, Christianity, Hindu, Islam
and Judaism.
4. Pis family moved to Canada to build their own zoo.
5. Pis family experienced discrimination inside the ship.
6. Richard Parker killed the zebra and the orangutan.
7. Pi let Richard Parker starved in the boat.
8. Pi realized that taking care of Richard Parker was
keeping him alive.
9. The floating island where Pi and Richard Parker found
refuge in the day was actually a dangerous place at
night.
10.The Insurance agents for the Japanese freighter did
not believe Pis account of the incidence.

SCANNING
1.The place where Pi was born.
2.Country where the swimming pool that named
after pie was located.
3.The name of the cargo ship Pi and his family took
that will bring them in Canada.
4.The animal that caused Pi to lose much of his
food supplies.
5.Large population of this animals were present in
the floating island that Pi sought refuge.

Why did Pie


Why did Pis family
How was Pieable to

changehis
name? moveto Canada?
survive in theocean
with atiger?

Why did Pi follow


more than one
religion? Do you
agree with him?

What are the


challenges of having
Richard Parker in
thesame boat with
Pi?

Why does Pi give


two accounts of his
ordeal?

Movie Review of the Life


Pi that takes us on an
of Pi is one of thoseof
stories

1. Life
amazing
adventure with its tale full of fantasy and spirit. The movie is based
on Spanish born novelist Yann Martels book, with a shaky start it
became a best-seller, has won a number of literary awards and
was adapted to the big screen by director Ang Lee whos done a
bunch of diverse and memorable films such as Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon, Hulk and Brokeback Mountain. With this one
the director uses all of his previous background to produce a film
thats mainly all heart, full of beautiful images and a surreal story.

2. A young Indian boy, nicknamed Pi (Suraj Sharma) survives a


shipwreck and is left with a Bengal tiger as a companion. This isnt
only a story about survival, but also self-discovery and adventure.

3. The storys main drive is spirituality because Pi is a curious boy


who grows up to be just as curious about everything and he finds
some comfort in God, no matter which religion or form it comes to
him. This might strike a cord with many believers and might be a
bit annoying to non-believers, but no matter how you see it this is
an extraordinary story and theres an interesting take when
speaking about the different religions. The movie has a steady
pace, it does get stretched out and slowed in the middle, but its
bearable because of the added hallucinations or florescent images
we see.
4. 19-year-old Indian actor, Suraj Sharma is amazing, he only breaks
character once, but for the majority of the film hes able to convey
the struggle this boy is in not only physically but also mentally. So
much so that theres sometimes comedy in his suffering and his
reflections easily can make you shed a tear. Peter Parker aka the
tiger is obviously important to the story, because without him the
film wouldnt be the same; he gives a necessary dose of danger
and the interesting connection between the two. Irrfan Khan who
plays older Pi, narrating the story is also key because he gives us
much more than a narration; he provides extra emotion to connect
the public to the film.
5.

Theres a lot of fantasy in this film and it poses a question that


might make some think afterward. Every scene has stunning
images that will keep your eyes glued to the screen. This can be a
family film for older kids who will surely enjoy the story as well as

Examining the Structure


1. What information did the writer include in the beginning
of the film review?
2. What is the writers over-all impression about the
central message of the story?
3. On paragraph 3, does the writer have a positive or
negative feeling about the integration of the theme of
religion in the film? Explain your answer.
4. What did the writer say about the actors portrayals of
their characters in the film? Was he satisfied?
5. Does the film reviewer positively recommend the film?
Cite evidence.

Outlining
I.
Life of Pi
A. Based on the novel of ____________
B. Directed by ____________
C. Full of
1. _________
2. Beautiful images

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