Life Of Pi Page #8

FRENCH COOK:

I feed people! You feed monkeys!

FATHER:

I'll teach you respect!

Sailors descend on the two, pulling them apart.

(people specking Japanese)

A SHORT TIME:

LATER -

69 INT. THE TSIMTSUM MESS HALL, 1977 - DAY 69

The family sits eating silently in the aftermath of the

scuffle. A TAIWANESE SAILOR comes alongside Pi carrying a

plate of rice with gravy. He speaks with a Taiwanese accent

and a gentle smile.

Japanese SAILOR

Hello, I am happy Buddhist, so I

eat rice next to gravy. On ship,

gravy is not meat. Is taste. Okay?

You try?

Pi smiles in gratitude, but the gravy looks anything but

appetizing.

70 INT. TSIMTSUM CARGO HOLD, 1977 - DAY 70

Pi eats a banana from the food set aside for the animals in

the cargo hold. He sits next to the transport cage of ORANGE

JUICE, a female orangutan with a baby orang in her arms.

Animal crates and cages surround Pi, the air filled with

screeches and growls.

Father enters the hold, carrying food for the animals.

FATHER:

(Noting Pi's banana:)

Don't worry - we will have plenty

of fresh supplies after we stop in

Manila.

Father mixes tranquilizer pills into food for the orangs.

PI:

Why give O.J. a tranquilizer? She's

not going to cause any trouble.

FATHER:

The stress of traveling is not good

for the animals.

(MORE)

30.

FATHER (CONT'D)

And it helps with the seasickness.

We don't want to be cleaning up

after a seasick orangutan, do we?

Pi looks up, notices Father watching him.

Father tries to smile along with his little attempt at humor,

but his manner is stiff, his eyes furtive and uneasy.

ADULT PI (V.O.)

My father was a businessman - he

had never handled the animals

himself. I realized that leaving

India must have been harder for him

than it was for me.

71 EXT. MONTREAL GARDENS - DAY 71

Adult Pi and the Writer sit on a bench in the gardens. Pi has

fallen silent, reflective.

WRITER:

... So...

ADULT PI:

Have I forgotten anything?

WRITER:

I think you've set the stage. So

far we have an Indian boy named

after a French swimming pool on a

Japanese ship full of animals

heading to Canada.

ADULT PI:

Yes. Now we have to send our boy

into the middle of the Pacific, and

-

WRITER:

And make me believe in God.

ADULT PI:

Yes. We'll get there.

72 EXT. A TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP OF THE PACIFIC, 1977 - DUSK 72

Moving in on the Mariana Trench, an ominous gash of darkest

blue...

31.

ADULT PI (V.O.)

It was four days out of Manila -

above the Mariana Trench, the

deepest spot on earth...

Zoom closer until the blue fills the screen...

ADULT PI (V.O.)

Our ship, the Tsimtsum, pushed on,

bullishly indifferent to its

surroundings. It moved with the

slow, massive confidence of a

continent.

DISSOLVE TO:

73 EXT. THE TSIMTSUM - NIGHT 73

Lightning and thunder. The freighter sailing in ominous

weather, the name Tsimtsum emblazoned on its hull. Choppy

seas, rains, a storm.

74 INT. CARGO SHIP, THE FAMILY CABIN - NIGHT 74

Darkness - the faint glow of a nightlight. Close on Pi's

sleeping face, the cabin swaying in the storm.

BANG. A loud, deep rumble breaks into his consciousness. The

ship shakes. Pi's eyes open. He looks around, listens.

Nothing. He leans over the side of his bunk and wakes Ravi.

PI:

Ravi? Did you hear that?

(Pause)

Ravi?

RAVI:

... I'm sleeping.

PI:

It's a thunderstorm! Let's go

watch!

RAVI:

Are you crazy? We'll get hit by

lightning.

PI:

No, we won't. It'll hit the bridge

first.

32.

RAVI:

Don't tempt a storm, Pi.

On the other side of the narrow room, Mother shifts

uncomfortably on the double bed she shares with Father.

75 INT. SHIP HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS 75

Pi heads upstairs to the deck.

76 EXT. THE CARGO DECK - CONTINUOUS 76

The deck of the ship is dark. Pi steps out into a bracing

rain and walks to the rail, wind whipping his hair. He

laughs, exhilarated, as rain splashes over his face. Throwing

arms wide, Pi dances in imitation of Anandi's dance, slipping

more than once on the rain-soaked deck, shouting in giddy

adolescent triumph.

PI:

More rain, lord of storms! Let it

rage!

He finishes, laughing as he falls against the railing. The

deck lights suddenly all come on at once; a warning alarm

sounds over the loudspeakers.

Pi slips to the front of the deck and stands up, watching in

horror as a wave washes over the bow, carrying several

sailors overboard. He pushes himself away from the railing

and runs back down below.

INT. THE STAIRS TO THE CABINS/LOWER LEVEL - CONTINUOUS

Pi stumbles down the tilted staircase.

PI:

AMMA! APPA! RAVI! GET OUT, GET OUT!

Halfway down, Pi hits water. He dives, searching for his

family. The hall lights flicker - the passage falls dark an

instant before the emergency lights come on in the water

below, which nearly reaches the ceiling. Pi dives, trying to

swim against the flowing current; he's astonished to find a

ZEBRA swimming toward him, passing overhead. He tries to swim

further, but the enormous force of rushing water and air is

too great; he scrambles backward, groping toward the

stairwell.

33.

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