What I can't understand is actually the fuss surrounding this film. People aren't just confused by it, they're acting offended by it. Apparently audiences in a lot of showings were yelling at the screen and snapping at people who tried to shush them. This movie was unusual, but I don't get what caused people to be so actively offended by it when they can sit through most movies, ambitious or otherwise, without any real problem. Is it the norm in our culture now to react to unexpected or strange images on the screen by getting angry and yelling? Could I just go out on a limb and say that if you leave before a film's over or spend the entire time yelling at the screen, I have no respect for your opinion of the film?Chimps parading as people aside, I at least enjoyed the movie. I saw it late in its run so I never had to worry about an audience yelling at the screen.I'm the kind of person who's patient. If a movie confuses me I don't flip out or start yelling and ranting; I sit it out. So that's what I did with this movie. I tried my best to see what Malick was doing, because I think it's pretty obvious that such a respected filmmaker would have seen at least some reason for making this movie.First of all, there's one major reason why this film isn't for everyone and it's not one I've heard anyone else mention:The film, from top to bottom, is extremely musical. I mean that in many ways, but let me be clearer: The father in the family the story focuses on wanted to be a conductor and dropped off that career path in favor of a secure job. The soundtrack is all very carefully-chosen classical music.And if you zoom out far enough, the overall structure of the film is actually a very musical one - you could almost see it as some insane variant on sonata form. It's hard to describe, but visual themes resurface at various times in the film in ways that feel very similar to recapitulations in music.As I said; not for everyone. I picked up on this stuff, but I'm a musician. I loved it.As far as the images of dinosaurs and the cosmos interspersed in it, my impression was that Malick was trying to show cycles of creation, longing and destruction in frameworks other than those of humans. As I saw it - and this is up for debate - I read the movie as showing a very eastern sort of philosophy; one that involves a sort of reincarnation or continuation beyond the lives and deaths of individuals, species, or even planets.Call that pretentious if you want, I thought it was done very nicely, though, and I'm very decidedly buying it as soon as it's out on DVD.Also, I don't get why people bothered yelling at the scenes of the cosmos. If you didn't get it, I still think it was some of the most beautiful visuals I've seen in a film in a really long time. Relax. It's pretty. The Tree of Life (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)
Terrence Malick's fifth feature is a mystifying and contemplative cinematic experience with a focus on the nature of good and evil, grace versus nature, god and his absence, love, grief, innocence, reconciliation and human existence all observed at times at a cosmic scale but mostly with intimate detail. Though far from containing a conventional narrative, the story within the enigmatic pondering of "The Tree of Life" revolves around Jack O'Brien, first seen as a wary middle aged man in modern times. He awakes one morning after he apparently dreams of his parents on the anniversary of the death of his brother who he loved deeply; a death that still troubles him. As he goes about his day working his corporate job the death of his sibling weighs heavily on him. Jack then begins, as he has probably done countless times before, to search for answers to that overburdening question `Why? Why do we die and what is the purpose of life'. Questions asked in hopes to better understand his loss and reconcile his grief.
The search for the answer, which inevitably questions god's existence, starts where one tends to look for something, the beginning. We are quickly transported to the very first moments of the creation of the universe and travel forward through time to the formation of earth, the dawn of living organisms at a microscopic level and eventually complex life forms. Next we get to the real center of the story as we witness the birth and childhood of Jack. This entire story is observed through Jacks memories of living in a small town in Texas during the 50's. I believe it is very important to consider that these scenes are told through his memory and so contain a dreamlike and visceral atmosphere. We are not watching it play out as a narrative would in any other film; instead we get fragments of his childhood, each an individual memory strung together as they flow through Jack's mind. The fact that these are memories also helps in understanding the view of his parents and the way in which they represent the sides of grace and nature to such extremes; as in Malick's "Days of Heaven" one questions whether they are a true representation of the characters or just how Jack remembers them so many years later.
Jessica Chastain plays `Mother', the way of grace, as a free spirited, caring and nurturing guide who teaches love, forgiveness and the enjoyment of life. The dueling force is nature, played incredibly well by Brad Pitt, as the disciplinarian father figure who runs his family with an iron fist in an attempt to instill toughness and a yearning for achieving greatness through any means. Together they reflect the inner workings of the cosmos and have a profound influence on Jack and at times he struggles to find a balance. As he grows he witnesses the harshness of the world around him, experiencing jealousy, lust, death and is often tempted by evil and sinful thoughts. At the same time however these struggles help him to grow and understand life and he comes to express a deep love and fondness for his family, especially his brother, though his mind still questions many things as it does for us all.
As expected with any Malick film the events in Jack's life are not a direct depiction of reality, and Malick really doesn't care much about their outcomes or how the story unfolds in a literal sense; instead what matters is making the audience experience these events through the inner mind and consciousness of the characters. As with his other work he relies heavily on voice over narration to convey the intimate thoughts of these characters, but this time they seem to be speaking for us and not just for themselves. All of this is constructed within a very visual backdrop with breathtakingly beautiful imagery utilizing lights, shadows, sounds, CGI, nature and settings with such perfection only a true artist like Malick could achieve giving even the most simple images complex meaning.
Together it is all truly poetry in motion and though it is a term I have used many times before it has never been more fitting. The entire film is unlike any other I have seen, one that will rattle your perspective on the world. Personally, the entire experience challenged me emotionally, mentally and spirituality; I'm not a religious man and I understand the examination of Christian values and Gods part in the story but the spiritualism at play I believe transcended religion or faith and although it looks to god for answers and at times tries to explain his actions, the thematic outcomes are open to so much interpretation that to claim you know the answer would undermine the films intentions. In the end there are no definitive answers; in the bigger picture of things we live but a small moment in time. One of the final scenes depicts what is seen to be `heaven' but not in a literal sense. God does not show his presence, and it isn't located among the clouds. One does not encounter angels and no answers are given to such complex questions like `Why are we here?", instead there are only the ones we love as we remember them. Heaven is merely the place within our hearts where we cherish the memories of the past and it is in those memories and through those people we lived them with that we find a meaning and a reason to love and live. It is there where one finds true reconciliation, understanding and peace and by films end that is what Jack and the audience get. It is such a powerful and poignant culmination of everything that comes before it and one cannot help but be moved by it all.
I should mention that Pitt's character genuinely believes that the world is a `survival of the fittest' sort of place, which plays a big part in his personality and how he treats his children. But at the same time he does want love and there is evidence of a level of grace within him, maybe because his father and mother represented the same sort of divide between grace and nature, instilling these sorts of things on him and though he tried to rejected certain aspects and struggled to find a balance like Jack his father's views were too strong and had the big impact on him. Now he is doing the same to his children whom I think at times he understands and possibly regrets but honestly thinks it is for the best. I think it does sort of show just how Pitt's character's parents had a similar effect on him (this struggle between toughness/love; mother vs./ father) which gets passed down throughout the generations, especially at that time in history when we tend to viewed father figures as disconnected and tough workers and mothers as simply caring nurturers.
I do think it is his best performance. There is so much complexity; he isn't just this authoritarian father figure, though on the surface that is what we see. He strongly has a desire to make it in the world and do the best for his family, but the only way he knows how is to be aggressive and when that creates a divide or he doesn't succeed you can see the disappoint and you understand the pain it must bring to him so he becomes a very sympathetic character and Pitt plays him all too well, expressing so much pain and anger in his face and movements. I would love to see him nominated for this role.
Jessica Chastain puts on just as wonderful of a performance playing the mother. This has a lot to be with her just being such a beautiful and elegant individual in real life and so was easily able to embody the character of `grace'. I must also mention Hunter McCracken who is just fantastic as Jack's childhood image. A young actor whose eyes seemed to express years of pain and deep thought, a rare thing.
Overall "The Tree of Life" will undoubtedly divide the general film going audience. In the showing I attended I saw one couple walk out while at the same time as the final scenes began to play a woman in front of me was in tears. No one will be affected in the same way as others; those with no previous experience with Malick's work might find the whole thing pretentious, difficult to understand and hard to sit through which is very understandable. Those with a bit of patience and an open mind will bear witness to what might possibly be one of the most ambitious, beautiful and best films ever that will stick with you long after you leave the theater and will be discussed and analyzed for years to come.'
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