The Tree of Life - Film Review

Still one of Hollywood's most mysterious and baffling filmmakers, Terrence Malick returns to the fold after a, by his standards, fairly brief hiatus of six years to give as The Tree of Life, a Palme d'Or winning film I'm having much difficulty describing in conventional terms, and perhaps one of the most enigmatic films of it's generation.

With the philosophical pondering of The Thin Red Line, displaced moral antipathy of badlands, and the astonishing visuals of The New World and Days of Heaven, Malick focusses all of his unconventional energy into this, his own flagship film.

Using a narrative which ignores walls built by filmmaking convention, and often actual physical possibility, The Tree of Life mainly centres on the contrasting childhood and adulthood of Jack (Sean Penn as an adult, Hunter McCracken as a child), spending most of it's time observing him growing up in 1950's Texas with his mother and father (Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt) and two brothers, Steve (Tye Sheridan) and R.L (Laramie Eppler). But it's not a coming of age film, it's more of an exploration of life and existence using this particular setting as a condensed example, while asking questions of God's wrath and nature's grace.

The film opens with a quote from The Book of Job, "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation ... while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy", and this immediately is installed as a running theme, the notion of questioning why suffering occurs, particularly in reference to the death of one of the brothers, despite not fully grasping the purpose of such a life in the first place, questioning the unquestionable. We see such life birthed by the cosmic ballet which sparked it, and the early stages, featuring pre-historic creatures, and later the asteroid impact which caused the ice age, nature resetting.

Jack O'Brien is a successful architect, but is deeply troubled by the world around him, finding himself constantly bemused and disturbed by the modern reality he is incased in. After seeing a tree being planted in front of his office building, he begins to reminisce about his upbringing. From here, we see his birth, infancy, and then his brothers also being born and becoming part of the family. We finally settle, and through questioning prayer like narration from Jack, his mother and father, as well as metaphorical imagery, we get a sense of their inner sides. Although Jack's mother is an almost ethereal, graceful and peaceful presence, loving though lenient, his father is a conflicted man, proud but harsh, full of idiosyncracies and contradictions and prone to taking out his frustration on his boys.

Over time, Jack experiences more of the world, seeing an increasing number of events and and experiencing new feelings for the first time, gradually growing a perspective and personality which makes him question his parents, and the meaning of loss and pain. He disovers rebellion as a method of expressing his confusion, fighting back against his strict father despite the consequences. In essence, the growing pains of youth. We see these events up until the family move out of their house, signalling the end of childhood.

Much of The Tree of Life doesn't make sense in the traditional sense, expressing itself more as question than an answer or theory, and allowing for the sort of ambiguity which rarely is allowed to be presented on film. Virtually every key event is subjective to the viewer, as is their understanding of the film's purpose, the message it is trying to convey. It is one part an exploration of the wonderment of childhood, another a more general and longful stare at the stars, asking through prayers. There is no real plot to speak of, none of the normal idioms and tropes of regular storytelling, because it's not really a story. If anything it's a poetic impression by way of motion picture. Malick, after all, is an artist first, film director second.

Similar in many ways to Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain (a film clearly inspired by Malick's other work anyway, also reviewed here on my blog), rather than taking a specific idea or emotion and breaking boundaries to express it fully, The Tree of Life is more sweeping, almost without a true focus. Although we see the growing up of Jack, and the impact it has on his adult life, it is never really the point of the piece, more a tool. If you'll excuse the use of metaphor, Jack's life is the paintbrush. Considering the intentions, it's no wonder the first cut of the film came in at a mindboggling eight hours.

But in looking at the piece in the more traditional, box ticking sense, there's a lot here to appreciate without having to feel challenged. As you would expect given the director, the cinematography and imagery is astonishing, some of the finest put on screen. The use of editing and angling is both unique and startlingly hypnotic, a haze built as we look at rather basic surroundings, such as fields of long grass and trees in a garden, with a feeling of beauty. It's a feast for the eyes, to say the least, and the wonderful score by Alexandre Desplat underlines emotions and tensions without need for highlighting.

As is the case with a Malick film, the actors have to be top of the range, true thespians who can convey so much with facial expression. After all, the script is minimalistic to say the least. Luckily, the cast pull it off wonderfully. Sean Penn, who's screen time is limited, brings so much to the film with very few lines, his hangdog expression and pensive body language enough to let us know that older Jack is hardly a settled man. Rising star Jessica Chastain has a glow of innocence around her, a real beauty almost too fragile, naive and pure. Brad Pitt continues his renaissance with a rounded, subtle and complex performance as the father, an ex-navy trying to make his way as an inventor, a loving man blunted and misshapen by his perceived cruelties of the world, desperate to make his sons greater than he ever will be.

But the real stars are the children, particularly Hunter McCracken as young Jack, and Tye Sheridan as his younger brother. Again, so little is expressed in meaningless lines of dialogue, but rather physical interraction and expression. It's some of the finest child acting you will ever seen, completely authentic and never forced, hugely expressive but not over the top. It's easy to forget these kids are acting, that they have a screenplay to follow.

It's impossible to discuss The Tree of Life without touching upon the words on the lips of every filmgoer leaving the cinema the end: What does it mean? As can be expected, there are dozens upon hundreds of differing theories and explanations no doubt, each one making it's case well and not one better or more valid than the next. Is it about coming to terms with existence? Is it questioning God's methods, for better of worse? Is it about the restless pursuit of knowledge? It's all of these and more, a human driven and emotionally focussed probe taking ginger steps into the sea of the unknown. The comparisons to 2001 are valid, if not a little simplistic.

What we have though, is a hugely ambitious and intoxicating, and never less than breathtaking voyage into the very line of questioning we will surely never get answers to, a film which challenges absolutely everything from the bounds of known science to the strength of one's faith, the firmly walled norm of filmmaking, and finally the viewer. You may not understand it, and there's a good chance you won't like it, but you must see it.


9/10