Life Of Pi Page #14

PI:

What am I doing?

Pi kicks at the side of the boat in frustration, and is

surprised to hear a metal clunk. He finds a rectangular

aluminum air box used for bouyancy: Pi then pulls the tarp

back fully for the first time and examines the contents

below.

49.

As he removes one of the floorboard panels, imagining new

uses for the wooden slats, he hears Richard Parker scratching

at the hull of the boat.

PI (CONT'D)

Wait - I'm thinking.

107 EXT. THE LIFEBOAT - NIGHT 107

Pi has tied a bunch of the flotation boxes to his raft and

loaded it with all the provisions from the lifeboat. He

points a flashlight beam over the side at the exhausted

Richard Parker, the tiger's face and whiskers just above the

surface of the water, scratching at the side of the boat.

Pi backs to the other end of the boat, pushing his raft into

the water with one hand as he rocks the boat to help Richard

Parker climb in. The moment the tiger is aboard, Pi climbs

onto the raft and pushes off, retreating to safety, blowing

the whistle to remind Richard Parker who's in command.

As he floats away, Pi collapses, exhausted, on the raft.

A107 EXT. THE RAFT - DAY A107

Pi goes through the supplies listed in his survival guide,

matching supplies to the pile of booty he's just retrieved

from the lifeboat.

PI (WRITING - V.O.)

93 cans of water...

B107 EXT. THE RAFT - DAY B107

Pi removes all of the lifejackets from under the life ring,

stacking them onto his latest raft structure. The empty

banana netting now drapes beneath the raft; Pi notices that

dorado are attracted to the net and gets an idea.

One of the dorados gets very close to the net - Pi realizes

his opportunity. He hauls in the netting and wrestles the

dorado onto the raft, flailing against the creature's

strength and throwing his full weight onto the creature to

keep it from sliding back into the ocean, riding it like a

bucking bronco. Pi grabs a hatchet from the raft and strikes

the fish over and over again. As the fish begins to die, it

flashes all kinds of colors in rapid succession - blue,

green, red, gold and violet flicker and shimmer neon-like on

its surface. Pi starts back, watching this colorful display

in terrified wonder. Finally, the fish ebbs to grey,

lifeless.

50.

PI:

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Pi is devastated. He weeps, bringing his hands together,

pressing them against his forehead, murmuring a prayer to

himself and bowing over the dead fish in abject grief.

PI (CONT'D)

Thank you, Lord Vishnu. Thank you

for coming in the form of a fish

and saving our lives. Thank you...

108 EXT. THE RAFT/THE LIFEBOAT - A SHORT TIME LATER 108

Pi reels himself over to the lifeboat. He moves around to the

side of the boat, grabs the dorado by the tail and throws the

entire fish over the side and into the stern. It lands with a

thud, and from somewhere inside the boat, Richard Parker lets

out a grunt of surprise.

After a moment, Pi hears the wet mashing noises of the tiger

devouring the fish. As Pi pushes away from the lifeboat, he

puts the whistle in his mouth, blowing a few sharp blasts to

remind Richard Parker who's in charge.

112A EXT. THE RAFT - NIGHT 112A

A full moon. All around the raft, the green surface of the

water glows with millions of flecks of glowing plankton - and

beneath the surface, fish swim past at multiple depths and in

multiple directions. Pi brushes his fingers over the surface

of the water. The surface ripples where he touched it, the

plankton glowing more brightly, the effect moving outward and

downward through the water, an ever-expanding ring.

Pi hears a faint, rapid succession of blows. He peers into

the encroaching darkness but can see nothing. Richard Parker

is nowhere to be seen. The blows stop and Pi returns his

attention to the light show below.

Pi senses movement deep within the water, a cone of rushing

energy pressing up toward the luminescent surface.

Suddenly, the glowing silhouette of a huge creature wrapped

in phosphorescent plankton - a HUMPBACK WHALE - streaks to

the surface nearby, its mouth gaping. Fifty feet in length,

it thrusts itself up into the air. Pi barely has time to

react, gripping the raft and holding on for his life as the

whale comes crashing back down into the water.

51.

The animal slips back into the ocean, creating a wave that

sends the raft swirling across the water's surface,

submerging for a moment, then bouncing off the side of the

lifeboat.

Pi's neatly-stacked water cans and biscuits tumble over the

side of the raft and into the ocean.

The whale disappears into the night, leaving Pi open-mouthed

and shaken.

PI (V.O.)

Of course, I brought all the

biscuits and water on the raft with

me to keep them safe. Idiot.

116 EXT. THE RAFT/LIFEBOAT - LATE AFTERNOON 116

A calm day; gentle waves. Afternoon, the sun beating down. Pi

wears his shirt wrapped around his head to hold off the heat.

PI (V.O. - CONT'D)

Hunger can change everything you

ever thought you knew about

yourself.

Pi uses his knife to cut another scratch into the hull. There

are 38 scratches on the side of the lifeboat. He glances

down, staring longingly at the fish that swim just beneath

the raft, then looks across the lifeboat, where the gaff lies

hooked in the tarp close to the tiger's end of the boat.

Richard Parker is nowhere to be seen.

Pi reaches out with the boat hook to try to snag the gaff,

but it is hooked deeply into the tarp. He lays the boat hook

on the tarp and climbs aboard, crawling forward to free the

gaff. As he wiggles the hook free, Richard Parker's head pops

out from beneath the tarp only a few feet away.

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