The micro and macro-cosmic worlds shape our existence, but I am sure that we regard them as mutually exclusive when not thinking about them. With the scope of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life contemplates both and challenges the audience to think beyond the realm of their own backyard. We witness the universe from the Big Bang, to the creation of life, through the evolution and eventual destruction of the dinosaurs.The "narrative" of the story, if you can really call it that, centers on a 1950's suburban home, and watches a family through the eyes of an unhappy son. It explores the themes of goodness, bravery, love, God, weakness, and the family, and all the while we are reminded that the house which gained so many memories exploring these ideas was under an ocean two hundred million years ago.
The story opens on the family receiving news of the death of one of the sons in the family, and the rest of the story is a series of memories of the eldest son, some thirty years later (played by Sean Penn) looking back on his childhood and his loss of innocence. A narrative voice tells the audience that man must follow one of two paths: the path of nature--selfish, unhappy, striving to better its position in the world--or the path of grace--gentle, kind, with the ability to take abuse and forgive. Each are represented with the boy's parents, the former his father, and the latter his mother. The two wage an internal war in the boy, Jack (a very good Hunter McCracken), and shape his choices as he grows.
As I said the plot is extremely loosely constructed. Its skeleton is that of showing what might have led to a child's death, but even that is shaky, as stating that that is its plot would destroy its message. I think I counted roughly ten scripted scenes through the entirety of the film. Most everything was candid and improvised with stretches of time simply watching children play kick the can, help their father in the yard, or poking a frog. It's enchanting. It is a deeply powerful and well-loved examination of birth, play, marriage, death and all of the wonderful moments that simply happen and are taken for granted.
A glorious example of this is a shot in which Jack's eternally patient and warm free-spirit of a mother is dancing in the street with the kids, when a yellow butterfly lands on her hand. It was purely happenstance and spoke so loudly of the message of the film that it nearly brought me to tears. The father represents the path of nature, shrewd and planning, and his hard work all goes for naught in the end. It's Malick's intent that we see the beauty in every leaf, in every bubble blown, in every breath from a baby, because the best laid plans of mice and men hold no bearing in a 14.7 billion year old cosmos.
This is a gross oversimplification of the film--I'm not even sure that it is fair to try and articulate what this film means, as I would say that each person gets out of it what he puts into it. Some people have said it was one of the worst films they have seen, and I would say that that is the case because they have not taken the time to reflect on their own life or develop their own ideas about the major questions that philosophers have pondered for thousands of years. I saw this movie in the theater, and that was both a good and a bad decision. The special effects are breathtaking, so for sheer visual appeal the bigger the screen the better. The Tree of Life is, however, an extremely personal and spiritual film; no two people will have an exact same interpretation of it, as everyone should find something to relate to in a unique way. For this reason I disliked the theater-going experience, as having other people watching it in the same room as me seemed like an invasion of my privacy. I felt like they were looking in on my memories and my understanding of the universe.
Watch this and keep an open mind. Only see it if you know yourself, because that is the only way to get something truly special out of it.
4/4
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