The Life of Pi and the Brokeback Mountain, Both Directed by Ang Lee - Essay Example

Lecturer Movie Review Ang Lee is an accomplished director of films, having directed many films in the past such as ‘Life of Pi’, Tyrant, Brokeback Mountain, The Wedding Banquet, Pushing Hands, and Eat Drink Man Woman. Two movies are being viewed in this paper are the Life of Pi and the Brokeback Mountain, both directed by Ang Lee. The Life of Pi is a tragic story about a boy named Pi whose family sets of from India to Canada together with various animals kept their zoo. The entire family perishes save for boy Pi and the tiger named Richard Parker. The movie is largely a story of survival of Pi, from the sinking ship up to when he washes up a shore, weak and almost to the point of death. He is rescued and taken to hospital where he narrates his ordeal, but failing to convince policemen, narrates another tragic story, this time involving real human beings rather than animals we saw in the movie, but follows the same pattern, only animals substituted by human beings. The Brokeback Mountain is another film based on a novel by the same title written by Annie Proulx. It is about two farmhands employed to look after sheep in a ranch who get interested in each other and ends up in a gay relationship. They are spotted by their employers in his binoculars and he fires them. They go their separate ways and start their families. Ennis later on marries Alma and are blessed with two daughters while Jack goes to Texas, marries and has a son. The story is about these two husbands finding it difficult to deal with the truth that they are gay. It is easier for them to live a lie than come out in the open. This secrecy continues until Jack visits after four years and the two men are excited to seeing each other after the long period. They lock lips while Alma is looking them through the window, confirming her fears. She is repulsed by this behavior, and in the end she announces to her father, in the presence of Ennis, that she is remarrying. Ennis rejects the offer of settling down with Jack, letting him go on to Mexico to look for love in bars and alleys. Ennis is fearful of living with another man whom he loves dearly. A particular incidence in his childhood is real to him; a scene of a man being pulled by his private parts until it rips off for the crime of ‘living’ with another man in a homosexual relationship. The man is eventually killed. Ennis would rather die than have himself married another man he truly loves. In both films, Ang Lee appears to have broken new ground, and taken film industry to new levels. Life of Pi is a 2012 film that made good use of 3D technology to great effect. Some of the characters in the film were computer generated to make them appear real. For instance, after the ship wreck, Pi is left in the lifeboat with the tiger called Richard Parker, and Orangutan, a Hyena and an injured Zebra. In real life, these animals would have wounded Pi or even killed him. Besides, it could be difficult to get them to do certain things. Essentially what is done is to generate them by the use of computers, rather than use weak animals, perhaps tortured for the actor’s safety. According to several reviews, the use of 3D in this film took directing of film to a whole new level. It was the first time this was being done, and it is surprising that this fete was achieved with relative ease, leaving the audiences awed. This was a creative masterpiece as many people had no idea how the two stories, slightly different, would be married into one. Initially, this story was thought to be un-filmable due to this issue, but Lee brings to bear his experience and sharp mind to overcome this issue. Another area where Lee breaks new ground is the issue of gay relationship as he aptly captures in the Brokeback. With his poignant scenes about homosexuality where the actors can be seen making love and at the same time living in fear about being found out, he summarizes the issues around gay relationships in a way that encourages debate among the audience. For long, the issue of gay right to marriage had been frown upon in the society. Even though it was open in the public domain that individuals lived as married couple, the society assumed that such relationships never existed by denying them recognition for their unions as marriages. The debate is healthy and as can be seen today, there is widespread acceptance of gay relationships and even marriages among them ware widely accepted. According to Herring (94) and McBridge (96) the huge success that the movie happens to realize captures the escapism in the society to deal with the issue of gay relationships. Yet this is not to say that Lee’s movie was largely pro-gay. In fact, he has managed to strike a good balance between those for and against gay rights and both groups can enjoy a good view. The two areas shows us how the director, Ang Lee is an accomplished movie director. His willingness to venture out from the traditional is amazing and serves to set him apart from this peers. He is able to take up risks which have all paid very well, at least looking at the performance of the two movies in the market. But another thing that makes these two works accomplished in their own rights is that the movies even when exploring touchy issues have strived to remain in the middle. The middle ground has helped them to remain popular across the audience rather than be divisive. Ang Lee, though an American, has a Taiwanese origin and this has had some influence on the wto movies. The depiction of Tigers as one of the key characters in ‘Life of Pi’. This is clearly drawn within the Taiwanese culture where the tiger is the toughest and strongest animal. That is perhaps the reason it is able to kill off the hyena that devours the orangutan and the zebra and brought about order in the boat. The Taiwanese background can also be seen in the choice of colours in the movie. There are lots of colours like the blue waters, brown man and shades of brown and black for the tiger. Many colors on the movies are in line the East Asia’s culture which tends to embrace colours. On the other hand, Brokeback Mountain may have largely been influenced by Ang Lee American roots, especially the explosive debate around homosexuality. Unlike in countries in East Asia where homosexuality is a concept that is frowned upon and it is rare to find it being discussed in public (White). However, the debate is very much alive in public spheres win the United States and much of the Western world. We could thus assumed that the movie was a way of stimulating debate in, while at the same time creating awareness about the plight of the gay community who suffer emotional turmoil as they struggle to come to terms with fear of being rejected (Miller 57). In Life of Pi, water has largely been used as a key element. Water has creatively been employed to achieve aesthetics and an existential theme. Whether the water is surging in a typhoon or the swimmer is being photography from either below or above, the director tries to achieve to give meaning and enhance the story. For instance, when the animal filled boat is capsizing, the scanning of the scene is done as if denote the bow of a rollercoaster. Pi is suspended underwater, watching helplessly as the ship is sinking before him, taking his entire family with it. It gives one an image of the immense struggle for survival that is going on; the submerged decks and the hull flooding gives the image of the creatures in that ship having reached the ends of their wits, what awaits them is death. While water has been used to capture emotions and the struggle in Life of Pi, it is the notion of home that has been used to achieve the same effect in Brokeback Mountain. Both Ennis and Jack make frequent references of how their childhoods and parents affected their outlook on several issues. Jack’s desire to escape the conventional way of life at home is what takes him to Mexico and eventually kills him. This conventional way of life is seen when his father comes in forcefully to deny him (posthumously) the wish to have his ashes sprayed on the Brokeback Mountain rather than the family’s ancestral land. It may be the case why he cannot tell what Pentecostal is or the church the mother goes to, yet he has stayed with parents since childhood. On the other hand, Ennis still remembers being taken by his father to view the body of a homosexual in his hometown, brutally murdered for his sexuality. Therefore, for the two young men, being far from home gives them some sort of freedom while being near to home represents all the bad things that can happen to them. The cinematic in the life of Pi are also beautiful. Therefore, a lot of effort has been expended not only to capture action, but to ensure that the audience likes what they are seeing, even if nothing much is going on. Case in point is when Pi simply lies down contemplating about his situation, or when he performs other mundane tasks, or the case where we have animals just doing nothing such as when a giraffe is eating leaves or when flamingoes come into frame at the opening sequence. It shows how Ang Lee has made good use of visuals to enhance the film. Therefore even with such scenes, the films remain overly good and captivating because the visuals are very beautiful. But again, the various shots gives meaning to what is happening around Pi. The feeling of loneliness and helplessness. The audience is able to connect with the predicament of the protagonist. He fills trapped in that he barely has control into what is happening. When he comes across many fishes flying across his face, and in the moment having him lost in thought of how the scene is beautiful, it leaves gives a feeling of hope in the face of great difficulty. Despite the violence around the beauty within that violence can still symbolize the hope one can have in such difficulty. The same can be said of the various shots in the Brokeback Mountain to give the meaning to what we see in on the screen. For instance, the visuals of the sheep, the campsite, the fire, the blue sky and even the hailstorms have creatively been used to capture the loneliness the two lovers have been facing in the journey to find true love. The beautiful colour and texture compositions are used to capture the emptiness the two secret lovers find at the Brokeback Mountain. The opening is also that of a long shot of a lorry running along a road, but with no signs of activity along the road or in the surrounding. This creates a feeling of loneliness and bleakness. One is prepared to connect with the emotional struggles of the two protagonists which is about to unfold. It thus connects well with the ensuing scenes. Hence, in both movies, it is clear that the director, Lee has used cinematic language to great effect so as to connect with the audience and give meaning to what is being seen on the screen,. It makes the presentation powerful and one is able to revisit the movie over and over again, because each time it is viewed, it seems fresh and new. Ang Lee tries to depict the protagonist as a minnow in an unforgiving eternity. He is up against huge odds and desperately struggling to survive. For instance, he is in the boat with a Bengali tiger, named Richard Parker. This is a constrained space and Pi is on the lookout lest he is pounced on and eaten by the restless tiger. Another thing that comes out of the film ‘The life of Pi’ from early on is the issue of religion. In this instance, Pi is secretly a Christian, a Hindu and a Muslim. His parents are not amused with this approach and try to talk him out of his ways, even though Pi is not convinced. For instance, when Pi talks of wanting to be baptized, the family is half supporting and half deriding his beliefs. It is not clear what the director wants us to get in this instance. Whether he support Pi or against it. However, this comes back at the tail end when we are challenged to have faith in something, regardless of what we belief in. That whether we believe in a deity such as God or whatever the name, or something, which has no name of form but which is guiding us, we must have a belief in it for it is crucial in our survival here on earth. Pi asks the Japanese soldiers who visited him in hospitals to choose the story about his life that they feel is compelling and which they want to believe. In a way, just as Pi doesn’t answer to a specific God, we are all invited to walk away with our own parables. Homosexuality is a subject that has largely been at loggerheads with all major religious persuasions such as Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. Religion as a theme is largely missing in the film Brokeback Mountain. But this is not to say it has not been covered. In fact, Ang Lee has covered it indirectly within the movie. When the two new employees are getting to know about each other, they appears to have a scant knowledge of Christianity. For instance, when Jack talks about his mum being pentescost, Ennis have no idea what this means and even Jack’s explanation is unconvincing. However, we come to face the same when we meet the same mother at the time when Ennis goes to visit Jack’s family to condole with them after Jack’s death. Apparently they are aware of the homosexual relationship their son has been having with Ennis. However, this does not seem to pose a huge problem as expected in this part of the world, especially considering that Jack’s parents are older and therefore expected to be conservative. Therefore, looking at the two movies, it appears that Ang Lee himself leaves open the religious options. He does not want to get involved in that touchy topic. In the ‘Life of Pi’ he is of a strong opinion that we need to have a higher being, maybe a force in which we believe in. While even in that movie, he leaves open the interpretation of that being to his audience. Whether that being or whatever it is is God is a matter of personal choice left to the viewer. Even the main character is confused about which religion to pursue, further making this line clearer. The same approach can be seen in the second movie. He wants to keep religion out of the topic he is handling. This we see when the characters are not inclined in representing their arguments based on their religious persuasions. The director is also keen to capture the reality of life. Each one of us is at an existential crossroad; faced with malady or challenge we must live with. In the case of Pi, this was in the form of Richard Parker, the tiger, who was with him in the life boat for the larger part of the journey, and all though was in some way threatening to devour him, forcing him to get creative in order to survive. Therefore, even though we do struggle with our own demons, we must strike a treacherous balance between keeping safe and falling over. Inherently, Pi’s journey is more or less striking a humanistic chord. On the other hand, in Brokeback Mountain, the two characters have a challenge they do not know how to overcome; the way they can live with their homosexuality. It gives them a lot of heartache that they cannot live together with people they truly love, yet they cannot risk opening up and living freely as homosexuals because the society frowns upon such unions. Specifically, when Jack asks Ennis to settle with him, Ennis cannot bring himself to accept such a proposal from fear of backlash from the society. This is because when he was young, his father showed him a photo of a cowboy who had been brutally killed for being a homosexual, and since then, he has not overcome the fear he had. Jack on the other hand had understanding parents and he comes along as a man who is more open about his sexuality. Be as it may, the main characters of this movie are having to hide their intimate relationship for they know that in the west such a relationship cold easily earn them death. Hence, fear is keeping them away from those they truly love. In essence, Lee tries to capture our own struggles in this world. While bringing to the fore important issues such as gay relationships and the human struggle for survival, the common thread running in these two movies is the idea that as human being, we are consistently struggling in life against adversity. It takes a lot on our part to survive such adversity and derive true satisfaction from our lives on this earth. Perhaps, that is a key lesson we could take from these two movies. It remains to be seen if Jack, by leaving behind Ennis who is reluctant to settle with him, can find true love in the the bars and alleys in Mexico. Even in death, he cannot find the love he wanted. Jack’s father thwarts his death wish of having his ashes scattered at the Brokeback Mountain, further accentuating Ennis’ loss to connect with him. Maybe is because of their fear of coming out and explaining themselves to seek acceptance from the society they feared the most. Ang Lee has captured a few themes in is work. Key ones is the disruption of families and the the challenges facing young people. In the case of the life of Pi, the family is disrupted when their plans to immigrate to Canada to sell off the animals they have in a zoo come a cropper when their ship capsizes in the sea. But before that, there was a struggle with the family divided over Pi beliefs in several Gods, which was against their Hindu culture. Pi had taken interest in several Gods, much to the discomfort of his father and mother. Such disruption of families would certainly make it hard for those members remaining behind to live as they use to before in peace and harmony. Pi’s life becomes a living hell as he has to balance between staying alive and being safe from the tiger. There is intense shortage of food and water and at the same time he has to also provide for the tiger. It also goes ahead to show us how the youth across the world are struggling with moral and physical challenges. Most important is unemployment and gang culture. These problems, in a way are enough to disorient the young minds and even make them lose hope in life. This theme runs in the movie Brokeback Mountain, albeit in another form. Even though we are not seeing the families bitterly disintegrating with individuals taking opposing sides, it has to be noted that their main protagonists, cannot bring themselves to seek support from their respective family members. Hence, even though the families kind of stick together in a way, the key protagonists in a way have to live with emotional turmoil. The wives of Ennis and Jack have no idea whatsoever that the two are gay and they work hard to conceal this bitter truth forms them. They world rather live in denial than face the truth. Hence, the two are not living in complete families as their hearts are elsewhere and not with their wives. Their respective marriages are just but a cover up of their real love. However, even this cover up does not last for long as the two lovers eventually break up over an argument and go their separate way. Another common trend in these two movies is the fact that they are both based on books which have done very well in the market. As seen earlier, Life of Pi was based on Yann Martel’s novel by the same title. On the other hand, Brokeback Mountain was based on a short story by Annie Proulx also by the same title. The two pieces of writing had been popular and even won a number of awards. Therefore, the movies was actually an attempt to take the books to the movie audience so that people could see what they have read about of even heard. Apart from being based on the book, Ang Lee’s creativity ensured that he did not stick to the text entirely, something that could have been boring or even even made the movie unbelievable by the audience. For creativity, he added some scenes to align the text to the real world situation and ensure at the same time that the meaning of was not lost. For instance, the scene in Brokeback Mountain where the two herders stray and have sex for the first time, is not well covered in the text. With additional visuals, we see Ennis first in tent, upper part of the body naked before Jack makes a move to kissing him, which he resists; something not covered in the text. The same has been done with Life of Pi. For instance, at the end, it is two policemen who come to pick him up and he recites the two stories, which in the text, it is two men wandering around the shore who picks Pi up. Works Cited Herring, Scott. "Brokeback Mountain Dossier:Introduction ." Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (2007): 93-94. McBridge, Dwight. "Why I Hate That I Loved Brokeback Mountain." Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (2007): 95-97. Miller, D.A. "On the Universality of Brokeback." Film Quarterly (2007): vol. 60 no. 3 pg50-60. White, Thomas. Being LGBT in Asia. 2014. 22 December 2014 . Read More