Roughly five minutes into Terrence Malick’s mesmerizing epic The Tree of Life a sensitive, attentive viewer will feel a powerful spell being cast; a kind of pleasant fever that deeply affects every nerve ending. The spell, cast by a cinematic magician, an unparalleled master of sound and imagery, is meticulous, disciplined and quite deliberate. The magician’s movie washes over you and asks only that you open yourself to it (deny your defenses).
The Tree of Life is a marvelous cascade of memories and dreams- a raw and visceral experience aimed at your heart and soul meaning to heal and cleanse. It is unlike most modern films- it has undeniable power.
Decades in the making (Malick mused about this project in one form or another as early as 1978), The Tree of Life has been anticipated for a few years now and cinephiles have been awaiting its delayed release for what seems ages. The movie lives up to its hype and surpasses it. It is a force of will and nature from a man who possibly understands time better than any other film artist.
The story is simple but the themes are as ambitious and bold as any ever experienced in a movie theatre. The narrative (a stream of consciousness flow, underscored by voice-overs, pulling back and forth from sub-conscious and conscious states) concerns a young boy growing up in Middle America with his two siblings. The father, a stern, determined, frustrated disciplinarian (played with a fresh and surprising superiority by Brad Pitt) is engaged in a battle for his children’s affections. In direct opposition to his unrelenting rigidity is the graceful and emotionally mature mother (Jessica Chastain- simply perfect in the role). The parents feud and fuss over their children in a fashion both authentic to its time and infinitely problematic. We are made aware early on that one son has died. We learn the tragedy occurred when he was nineteen. Jack (played in later life by Sean Penn, who always conveys aloofness with little effort) is caught between the parents forever dueling natures. The film is book ended by the older Jack (Penn) and his reflections on his boyhood and memories of his lost brother. The story goes back and forth from modern day (Jack’s job as an architect weaving in and out of 21st century buildings like a man hopelessly lost in time) and late 1950’s Middle America (post World War II neighborhoods, houses where families raise children in pursuit of a newly minted "American Dream"). There is also a sequence concerned with the creation of all life- but the less said about this- the better. It is unforgettable in its authenticity and sheer audacity.
One definitely has the impression Malick is telling his own story here. It is known that Malick's brother died and some of the film’s most effective scenes are obviously distinct memories of a time and place where a child forms perspective of the world around him through the lens of his parents. The mother is graceful- indeed she is the embodiment of grace (literally floating on air and speaking about “loving all things”). The father is grace under unexamined pressure- forever disgruntled with the conflicting justices of the world (his rage as inescapable as it is motivational). He is a failed musician in his eyes and his wife, a supremely feminine mystique, seems to unnerve and undermine him to his angsty core. There is a wonderful scene where Chastian's matriarch tells her child “there is nothing to be afraid of…” summoning the child to the window (although the perspective of the shot implies she is drawing us to the window). The next scene is the father by the window holding his baby, looking protective and fearful, forcing the crying infant into his breast, staring out the window waiting for the world to disappoint him some more. Jack’s father is actively poised for joylessness. Jack’s mother deflects negativity lest it be her husband’s seemingly unstoppable anguish. The mother is pragmatic and perhaps, naive. The father is pushy, deeply exhausted and perhaps, oddly effective.
The Tree of Life's real energy lay in Malick’s trademark voice-over, his usual images of nature (sun rays slanting through trees function like answers to questions), eliminated or muffled sounds of anguish and violence (the mother’s sobs of pain over the death of her child drone away, a criminal escorted into a police vehicle bobs back in forth as Malick deems his violence unworthy of sound), and Emmanuel Lubezki's camera lingers on children’s galavanting shadows while the triviality of adult confusion hides in the background. Terrence Malick documents the mysteries of existence. He shows us the world as it feels. The quote from the bible at the beginning of the movie is God’s answer to Job. Job asks why? Why do we suffer, struggle, die? Why is the universe indifferent to us? God provides no answers. The Tree of Life suggests the mysteries and the ambiguities of life are worthy of astonishment and wonder- and this is sufficient. This is the “Glory” (as mentioned by a character in Malick's WWII drama, THE THIN RED LINE (1998)). The same glory Jack’s father confesses to be ignorant of and Jack’s mother embraces at all costs.
Malick has constructed one of the most genuinely awe-inspiring movies you’ll ever see. It’s simply one of the best films ever made; the overall enjoyment and understanding of which lies in your own capacity for self-awareness and introspection (all Malick's films embrace and call forth one's solitude). The film compliments sincerity of heart and mind and is aimed at whatever is good in its viewers. It is an unparallelled masterwork of modern cinema.