TREE OF LIFE, THE

(May 2011, U.S.)

Look up the films of director Terrence Malick and the same word continuously pops up - experimental. Wikipedia describes the word as a style of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explored non-narrative forms and alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. The vast majority of these films have been produced on very low budgets and distributed through independent studios. The goal of these films is often to express the personal vision of the artist, or perhaps even to promote an interest in a new technology in lieu of traditional movie entertainment. Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978), THE THIN RED LINE (1998) and THE NEW WORLD (2005) are some of the best examples I've personally experienced.

As an experimental epic drama film, THE TREE OF LIFE chronicles the origins and the meaning of life as told through the existence of a present day middle-aged architect's (played by Sean Penn) painful childhood memories of his family living in Waco, Texas in the 1950s, while interspersed with colorful imagery of the origins of the known universe and inception of life on Earth. The film begins with a mysterious light resembling a flame, as it flickers in the darkness. Through ongoing narration of the thoughts of Mrs. O'Brien (played by Jessica Chastain), we're told of a lesson that people must choose to follow either the path of grace or the path of nature. Following that train of thought, she learns in the 1960s that her nineteen year-old son R.L. has died in the Vietnam War, throwing her and her family into turmoil.

Back in the present, Jack O'Brien (Penn) is adrift among the tall skyscrapers of the city he lives in. His life's reflections not only camera shots of the city, but of the vast desert, trees that stretch from the ground up to the sun, as well as continuing scenes from his 1950's childhood as they're somehow all linked together, ultimately leading back to the flickering flame that opened the film.

Then suddenly, things change symbolically that seemingly have little-to-nothing to do with the O'Brien family. From the darkness, the universe is born, the Milky Way and the solar system form while we listen to voice-overs ask experimental questions of life. On the newly-formed planet Earth, volcanoes erupt and microbes form and replicate. Life in the sea is born, plants grow on land, and dinosaurs come to life. One of these dinosaurs even teaches us about compassion as it chooses not to eat another injured dinosaur. And then finally, an asteroid strikes the earth, causing an extinction event.

Back to the O'Brien family - life thrives with the birth of new babies. Babies turn into rebellious teenagers, faced with conflict of accepting the way of grace or nature, as they're embodied by each of their parents. Mother O'Brien is gentle and nurturing, while Father O'Brien (played by Brad Pitt) is strict and authoritative, easily losing his temper over the little things while he struggles personally to reconcile his own life's failures, while maintaining a strong love for his sons to prepare them for a corrupt and cruel world. Oldest boy Jack becomes increasingly angry at his father's bullying nature, slowly tallying up the various misdeeds and hypocrisies of his father (I think I can personally relate to that; only with me, it was my mother).

The family faces their first real test of life's struggles when the plant Mr. O'Brien works at closes and he's given the choice of either losing his job or relocating to work in a more inferior position within the company. The family packs it up, as he laments the course his life has taken over the years, questioning whether or not he's been a good man, even asking his oldest boy Jack for forgiveness for his harsh treatment of him. As a grown man of the present day, Jack experiences visions of rocky terrains, a wooden door frame erected on those rocks to witness a view of the far distant future in which the sun expands into a red giant, engulfing the earth and then shrinking into a white dwarf. In this vision, he's also reunited with his younger self, as well as the rest of his family. His father is happy to be with him. He encounters his dead brother, and the proper goodbye is said, as Mrs. O'Brien looks to the sky and whispers, "I give him to you. I give you my son."

Nothing gives me greater joy than a film that's forced to challenge my mind (as opposed to mindless garbage). These films must be watched more than once, even if I think I may hate it the first time. THE TREE OF LIFE is one of the most ambitious motion pictures of the 20th century that's (unfortunately) been filled with way too much comic book hero crap. Terrence Malick's unique style of filmmaking is not for the impatient at heart. It's a truly emotional journey of human love and loss, as well as a visual journey, and these visual effects are deservedly attributed to the artistry of Douglas Trumbull, who like his legendary work on Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, stuck to the old school way of doing things instead of the modern CGI effects, which Malick didn't care for (even the late Roger Ebert himself compared the boldness of such visions to 2001). The film also explores humankind's place in the Earth's grand scheme of existence (whatever that might be) through the odyssey of a young boy's time and memories. This odyssey quite literally reaches for the stars through overwhelming visual beauty, and even suggests religious spiritual themes of good and evil, and the spoken conflicts between grace and nature (again, whatever they might be).

If you believe in God (I don't), then film surely suggests that God's up to something beautiful, thus possibly directing our outlook toward life. That outlook is of course, completely up to you and your belief in the power and beauty of film to reach us and teach us. For some, THE TREE OF LIFE may just be that perfect teacher.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Young Jack O'Brien: "Where were you? You let a little boy die."

TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, THE

(January 1948, U.S.)

John Huston's black and white classic THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE is officially described as an American western adventure drama. Typically, I don't go for the entire western genre because, in my opinion, the basic stories never change: small town, good guys terrorized by bad guys, lone hero, and final shoot-out that concludes everything. The western element for this film, however, merely lies in its historical era and its background, I think. Every plot point I just mentioned doesn't exist here, but rather an exploration into the period of history that was prospecting for gold, and the dark greed it brought out of the hearts of men.

In the year 1925, Fred C. Dobbs (played by Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (played by Tim Holt) are two unemployed American drifters trying to survive on the streets of Mexico. After a failed attempt as roughneck labor contractors on an oil rig, they meet up with old prospector Howard (played by John Huston's father Walter Huston) who tells them tales of gold prospecting and the inevitable consequences of striking it rich. The two young men are easily and quickly tempted by the promise of gold and its riches. With what little money they're able to scrape up, they pool their funds together to finance a gold prospecting journey into the remote Sierra Madre mountains.

Almost immediately, the group is not only challenged with outfitting the project, but also fighting off attacks by Mexican bandits. Howard proves to be the most knowledgeable and hardest of the three men, having lived through this entire experience multiple time before. After days of difficult travel and climbing, his keen and experienced eye recognizes the terrain that's laden with gold. The men begin extracting the riches of the land, living and working in harsh and primitive conditions. After time and hard work, they manage to collect a fortune of gold that brings with it the fear, paranoia and suspicion of theft and betrayal from each man, particularly Dobbs, who slowly loses his sanity. The of them agree to divide the gold so as to jealously conceal the whereabouts of their shares.

After Howard is summoned to assist local villagers to save the life of a little boy, they insist that he return to the village to be honored, and refuse to accept no for an answer. Howard entrusts his gold with Dobbs and Curtin, but Dobbs's paranoia continues, and he and Curtin are constantly at each other's throats, to the point where Dobbs holds Curtin at gunpoint and shoots him. Taking all the gold for himself, he doesn't live long, as he's ultimately slain by Mexican bandits. Curtin survives the shooting, but walks away with nothing, ending up right back as he was at the beginning of the film. Howard, on the other hand, is contented to spend the rest of his life as a welcomed medicine man in the village who accepted him.

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE is a story of the influence of greed corrupting men's souls, though it doesn't say too much about the product of gold itself as a film character. The actions of three otherwise good men is driven by not only greed, but of fear of what the other man might do. The film makes a point of expressing their the events that question their human nature, particularly Dobbs. The toughness of a man like Humphrey Bogart shines as a man who's exactly such a good man from the beginning, and who only deteriorates into something much worse as the adventurous prospect of striking it rich takes shape throughout the film. It's also one of John Huston's best works in a string of films he made with Bogart that also included THE MALTESE FALCON (1941), KEY LARGO (1948) and THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951).

Favorite line or dialogue:

Mexican bandit: "Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

(that's right, people - that line did NOT originate from Mel Brooks's BLAZING SADDLES).

TRAINING DAY

(September 2001, U.S.)

When I look back at the month of September 2001, it's almost impossible for me to recall exactly which movie were released and which weren't. In the weeks immediately following the events of September 11th of that year, Hollywood was being very careful about films featuring any excessive violence or reference to violence on American soil. TRAINING DAY, I know, saw no delayed release or cancellation because I recall seeing it in a Manhattan movie theater in its opening week. This American crime thriller starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke takes the traditional cop and crime story to new places we've likely never seen before.

Los Angeles police officer Jake Hoyt (Hawke) wakes up to a brand new day to begin his assignment of evaluation by his new superior, Detective Alonzo Harris (Washington), a highly decorated narcotics officer. Alonzo is hardly shy about the fact that he's a corrupt cop on the take, willing to do whatever is necessary to get his job done to clean up the streets. After confiscating some drugs from a group of college kids, Alonzo orders Jake to smoke it. Refusing at first, Jake is forced to comply when Alonzo (literally) puts a gun to his head and citing that Jake's refusal would get him killed on the streets. Turns out what Jake smokes is laced with PCP, now sitting in his blood and could easily compromise him later with his authorities. Despite being rather high right now, Jake still manages to do the right thing as a cop when he saves a teenage girl from being raped in an alley by a pair of addicts. Jake discovers and retrieves the girls wallet afterwards (this pays off considerably later).

Throughout the day, Jake is unwittingly caught up in a series of corrupt busts, seizures, cash theft and the execution of a known drug dealer, for which Jake has been set up at the so-called "hero cop" of the shooting. We also learn that Alonzo is being hunted by the Russian mafia for an outstanding debt of one million dollars he incurred for killing one of their men in Las Vegas. It becomes very clear that Alonzo will use anyone and steal whatever he needs to keep himself alive and pay off his debt with the Russians. This is never more obvious when he and Jake make a stop to run an errand and Jake reluctantly plays poker with a group of gang members, waiting for Alonzo to return from the bathroom. Realizing that he's been abandoned and is now the intended target of the gang members, Jake is beaten and nearly executed in the bathtub when the teenage girl's wallet saves him. The girl, it turns out, is the cousin of the leading gang member. After confirming Jake's story of how he had saved her from being raped earlier that day, Jake's life is spared, though he's still determined to have his revenge against Alonzo.

After a gunfight and chase, Alonzo is subdued, while the entire ghetto neighborhood he has always controlled congregates to watch, refusing to help the corrupt and arrogant Alonzo now in his time of need. Jake shoots Alonzo in the ass and takes the money intended to pay off the Russians, intending to submit it as evidence against Alonzo. Alonzo, however, won't live to see the next day, as he's ambushed and executed by the Russians while driving to LAX airport. Jake returns home, a completely changed man after just a single training day.

From the day that the Los Angeles police officers who beat Rodney King on video were shockingly acquitted in 1992, the police force and their charges of racism and corruption feel as if they've always been a part of my generation's environment. As a totally corrupt (and proud of it) L.A. cop, Denzel Washington shows us just how dark and brutal he can be as an actor, reminding us of the corrupt power, if not evil, a determined police officer can generate in his community. Among the people he controls, he proudly and forcefully declares that he is the police, and that, "King Kong ain't got shit on me!" The film as a whole is raw, gritty and dirty, showing us the city in a way that often reminds me of the New York city grime featured in much older crime thrillers like THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) and NIGHTHAWKS (1981).

Does Washington go a bit over the top as he ventures into the dark side? Perhaps, but sometimes over-the-top performances (think even Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING) can still win you the Oscar for best actor (though why he didn't win it for his performance in Spike Lee's MALCOM X instead, I'll never know).

Favorite line or dialogue:

Jake Hoyt: "That's street justice."
Alonzo Harris: "What's wrong with street justice?"
Jake: "Oh, what, so just let the animals wipe themselves out, right?"
Alonzo: "God willing!"