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MY RATING: 9.5

The Tree of Life (2011)

DIRECTED BY: Terrence Malick

STARRING: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The story centers around a family with three boys in the 1950s. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence.

PROS: The cinematography is absolutely stunning, and the themes are powerful and important.

CONS: Its nonlinear structure and unconventional approach to narrative may be off-putting, boring, or even pretentious to unprepared audiences.

BOTTOM LINE: It's incredibly beautiful and emotionally fulfilling, but not for everyone.

Wow, where to begin with this one? Let’s give you a little background first. Terrence Malick is an extraordinary director whose work is typically slow-moving and ponderous, filled with exquisite cinematography and philosophical voice-over narrations. Since his start in 1969, he has only directed five feature-length films, including the beautiful Days of Heaven, the 1998 war film The Thin Red Line, and the Pocahontas drama The New World. If you’ve had little experience with him, you may have difficulty knowing what to expect from The Tree of Life. And that’s fine – it’s a wonderful piece to start with. But it’s far from accessible. I’m going to say that right away. It will demand your patience and attention unlike most films you are likely to have seen.

The film is about, well, everything. It mostly follows a family in the 50’s, specifically one son in that family. In a lot of ways, it’s a coming-of-age story, a loss-of-innocence story, and a father-son story. But it is so much more than that: it is also a story about the birth and death of the world, the dual nature of man, and the struggle to reconcile with your past. It is a story about trust, faith, and loss. This film seeks to explore the deepest questions of the universe, through the lens of one little nuclear family: a microcosm of existence itself. It’s a deeply religious film, filled with Biblical imagery and a very earnest yearning for redemption.

Visually, The Tree of Life is breathtakingly beautiful (that’s not hyperbole; there were several shots that literally made me gasp). Like most Malick films, it’s more like a poem than a movie. And as far as audio is concerned, there is much more voice-over narration than there is dialogue. Most of the sound, in fact, is either music or silence.

Probably the most powerful and challenging scene in Tree of Life is the 25-minute creation sequence. It is very operatic, very aesthetically pleasing, and very confusing. Juxtaposed with a family’s mourning of their son’s death, perhaps it illustrates the insignificance of man’s suffering in comparison to the infinite splendor of God? Or perhaps it is meant to evoke the opposite: a confused anger and distance from a God who seems majestically indifferent to our pain.

At one point, a young character pleads with his Maker, asking: “where were you? You let a boy die. You let anything happen. Why should I be good, when You aren’t?” This line sent chills down my spine.

This film is an incredible work of art, but definitely not for those with short attention spans. I advise that you watch it when you are wide awake and when you are unlikely to be interrupted. Also, watch it with other people. Just like any piece of poetry, its interpretation is subjective—therefore you’ll get a lot more out of it if you hear what others got out of it. Choose wisely your fellow audience members; you should watch a film like this with the kind of people who won’t get bored and start sending text messages halfway through. The roommates I watched it with were fantastic: they had fascinating insights on Malick’s visual symbolism, and they shared interesting anecdotes about their childhood and how certain scenes reminded them of their own insecurities, memories, and worldviews.

Given that you approach this film with the right mindset and the right company, I can almost guarantee you you’ll find it a worthwhile and thought-provoking experience. If you’re unwilling to get in the right mindset, however, it’s really not for you. Unlike some pieces of entertainment, this film won’t grab your attention and force you to enjoy it. You have to prepare yourself for it.