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."