‘The Tree of Life’ stands as director Terrence Malick’s attempt to make sense of faith, life, the universe, and well, everything in between. There are differences but not necessarily distinctions drawn between the spiritual and material, science and faith, beauty and ugliness, and most especially between tragedy and joy. We are told that there are only two ways to live - ‘the way of grace or the way of nature,’ but more often than not grace is portrayed through vivid, climatic nature scenes, while ultimately every character in the story struggles through the pitfalls of their nature only to find grace and redemption.
The story is set mainly in 1950s small-town America and focusses on a young boy named Jack (played by Hunter McCracken as a child and Sean Penn as an adult) and his complex relationship with his grace-filled, gentle Catholic mother, Mrs O’ Brien (Jessica Chastain) and his loving, yet repressed and angry Catholic father, Mr. O’Brien (Brad Pitt). In between we are treated to vividly imagined scenes of creation and evolution, which are used to speak directly into both the daily joys and suffering of this particular family. We also see Jack as an adult, still struggling to come to terms with a childhood tragedy as he lives within the imbalance between what his mother created and his father destroyed. Yet, we actually learn through Jack’s experiences that the difference between creation and destruction is not as sharp as first imagined. Suffering, Malick points out, is an indispensable part of life that draws people into a deeper understanding of God. In other words, even destruction can lead to creative moments of redemption.
While The Tree of Life won the grand prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, it garnered both cheers and jeers at the completion of its showing. This is because it is more abstract poetry and art than traditional narrative storytelling, which sharply divides opinion. For some, it will deeply move and inspire as the various highly spiritualised and metaphorical scenes play out to classical scores, while others will simply be bored to tears and find the whole experience as exciting as watching a tree grow.
I found the movie both touching and inspiring, and so have awarded it four stars out of five. Malick’s movie has plenty of depth and stands as a powerful reminder of the beauty and tragedy of faith and love and how they are inextricably intertwined. Yet at the same time it is a tad too long and somewhat abstract. If poetry gives you a headache and if classical music bores you, then perhaps this is not for you.