One of the most discussed movies of the year was certainly The Tree of Life. This is near the top of my list of favorite movies of the year. It is not perfect, but I am still finding it intriguing to think about. And it’s beautiful throughout.
The first Terrence Malick movie I saw was Days of Heaven on a DVD. I can’t say I loved it, but I certainly didn’t dislike it at all. After seeing the magnificently put-together trailer for The Tree of Life, I basically had to see it. So I did. And I went with my girlfriend Morgan and some friends of mine just happened to be there. Anyway, the movie started and it began with a female narrator telling us that there are two ways through life. There is the way of nature and the way of grace. And this statement, which made me scramble in my mind to see whether or not I agreed with it, still intrigues me.
As with any movie, there are some things that we know for certain and there are other things that we have to guess at. With The Tree of Life, we are told early on that there are two ways through life. We are then, throughout the rest of the movie, strongly convinced (or, at least, led to believe) that the better way through life is grace. After all, “Unless you love, your life will flash by.”
HERE’S MY POINT: If there is the way of love and the way of nature and love is the answer, then it would seem reasonable that nature (if it is to be believed and perceived as a conscious being) will realize someday how wrong it has been. It will realize that love is the way. This is an extremely powerful and hopeful idea that can be seen in various stories. These stories would include the defeat of “the beast” in Revelation and the scene within Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life where the Brad Pitt character (who possibly personifies nature) is seen regretting the way in which he treated his sons, especially the one who had recently died. To me, this is the climax and one of the very best parts of this movie.
I tend to agree with Jim Emerson’s numerous statements about how the ending scenes on the beach were anticlimactic and seemed clichéd. Scene by scene, this movie is brilliant in how it is edited together. It’s amazing to watch how one shot flows into the next. However, the structure of the entire movie leaves something to be desired. I say this not only because of how the ending is somewhat disappointing, but also because the climax of the movie (where Brad Pitt’s character regrets his earlier actions) takes place too early. I don’t mind that there isn’t a huge musical score to show how big a deal this is, but I do mind that it gets lost in the rest of the movie by taking place too early. I would have preferred this movie to have been different, but I’m not sure how except to say that perhaps the climax (as I see it) and the scenes at the heavenly beach should have been placed differently. There’s something lacking in this movie and I’m not talking about plot. That's right, no mercy.
The first Terrence Malick movie I saw was Days of Heaven on a DVD. I can’t say I loved it, but I certainly didn’t dislike it at all. After seeing the magnificently put-together trailer for The Tree of Life, I basically had to see it. So I did. And I went with my girlfriend Morgan and some friends of mine just happened to be there. Anyway, the movie started and it began with a female narrator telling us that there are two ways through life. There is the way of nature and the way of grace. And this statement, which made me scramble in my mind to see whether or not I agreed with it, still intrigues me.
As with any movie, there are some things that we know for certain and there are other things that we have to guess at. With The Tree of Life, we are told early on that there are two ways through life. We are then, throughout the rest of the movie, strongly convinced (or, at least, led to believe) that the better way through life is grace. After all, “Unless you love, your life will flash by.”
HERE’S MY POINT: If there is the way of love and the way of nature and love is the answer, then it would seem reasonable that nature (if it is to be believed and perceived as a conscious being) will realize someday how wrong it has been. It will realize that love is the way. This is an extremely powerful and hopeful idea that can be seen in various stories. These stories would include the defeat of “the beast” in Revelation and the scene within Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life where the Brad Pitt character (who possibly personifies nature) is seen regretting the way in which he treated his sons, especially the one who had recently died. To me, this is the climax and one of the very best parts of this movie.
I tend to agree with Jim Emerson’s numerous statements about how the ending scenes on the beach were anticlimactic and seemed clichéd. Scene by scene, this movie is brilliant in how it is edited together. It’s amazing to watch how one shot flows into the next. However, the structure of the entire movie leaves something to be desired. I say this not only because of how the ending is somewhat disappointing, but also because the climax of the movie (where Brad Pitt’s character regrets his earlier actions) takes place too early. I don’t mind that there isn’t a huge musical score to show how big a deal this is, but I do mind that it gets lost in the rest of the movie by taking place too early. I would have preferred this movie to have been different, but I’m not sure how except to say that perhaps the climax (as I see it) and the scenes at the heavenly beach should have been placed differently. There’s something lacking in this movie and I’m not talking about plot. That's right, no mercy.
Just from watching the preview and reading your review, a couple things that make me critical of the movie's substance are:
ReplyDelete1. I am sick of people saying there are two ways of living or being. This is so cliche.
2. The nature vs. grace thing seems really similar to the Christian teaching that people are naturally evil and need to accept Jesus into their hearts to live by grace, which I totally disagree with. I like that this movie might be saying that living by grace can come from within oneself, rather than through God, but I disagree with the notion that people have to work against human nature (as if it is inherently only evil) to become gracious. Also, I think the nature/grace dichotomy is an oversimplification of humanity. I prefer the concept that people are naturally both gracious/loving and flawed.
No mercy!
1. I really know what you mean.
ReplyDelete2. Since I am theologically Christian, I guess our viewpoints are different on this one. I think that there are extremes of human behavior that need to be looked at. And I certainly think there are people that are more driven by one extreme than another, sometimes even to an extreme. I say this because I've witnessed the horrible existence of some people. I too would prefer it if everyone was just trying to do the best they could. This is why I love movies that have characters that are like that. And while The Tree of Life does seem to be arguing that Brad Pitt personifies nature and Jessica Chastain personifies Grace, I think there's more than just that. There are ways in which Brad Pitt shows compassion and there are ways in which Jessica Chastain shows anger. It's a really interesting movie. But there's a reason I love the movie Beginners so much and that's probably that I can't help but to fall for a movie with characters are flawed but always trying to do their best.
I'm now going to watch Beginners -- it looks so good!
ReplyDelete