The Tree of Life Review

The Tree Of Life Review

A four year old boy sits on a park bench, next to an elderly man.  The elderly man is a well respected and brilliant physicist. The boy is just a boy. The physicist, seeing he has an audience, begins to explain all the secrets of life, the universe, and everything to the four year old boy. The four year old boy sits mesmerized by the old man's tale, listening carefully, focused on every detail. When the elderly man finishes, he looks down at the four year old boy, and says "Do you understand?" To which the four year old boy says, "No sir, but can I hear it again?"

After sitting through the Tree of Life, I believe that within it must be all the secrets of life, the universe, and everything. Terence Malick has laid out his philosophy on the meaning of life quite beautifully. But I also, like the four year old boy, I cannot process it. I guess am not as smart, or wise, or as experienced as I thought.  Perhaps there is an obvious meaning to the movie that I couldn't see it. Maybe I couldn't see the forrest for the trees. I don't know, but what I do know is that I couldn't see any real narrative structure to the movie.  It's timeline is incomprehensible, and when it does begin to form some linear structure, about one third into the movie, it becomes just a series of disjointed events, like memories that you can't quite place in time.

It is in this section of the movie that the story of a boy and his loss of innocence is told.  Raised by a nurturing mother, and a strict father, the boy undergoes a transformation. He lets go of his youth, filled with grace instilled in him by his mother, and embraces a jaded hard edge, drilled into him by his father.  Brad Pitt plays the father quite well.  He is a man who once had a grace of his own, a great musician, who was beaten down by the world and who doesn't want his son to repeat his mistakes.  He is loving, but hard, and moments of tenderness are almost immediately followed by moments of intense severity.

The movie consists very little of plot, or story. It exists more like an impressionist painting set to music and poetry, than a film.  There is an elegance to the movie that is both delightful, and frustrating.  Throughout the movie I was constantly reminded of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The Tree of Life, just like a Space Odyssey, sometimes lets go of its story in favor of beautiful artistic visuals that bring added depth and emotion to the film. Unlike 2001, The Tree of Life tends to lose focus on the story, and get lost in it's art. I appreciate art, I think many films can be artistic, but I also think that movies are stories, and without focus a movie can become messy and chaotic.  The Tree of Life is just that, blissful chaos.

There is no real easy way to explain what The Tree of Life is about. It defies definition, and it is as beautiful as it is unexplainable. I still can't wrap my head around what this movie was about. The best way, the only way to know what this movie is about is to experience it for yourself. Maybe if I see it again I will understand.