The Tree of Life (2011)

A simple, eclectic poster can sum up The Tree Of life.

“What is the meaning of life?”

We ask ourselves this ambiguous question every day of our lives. But what exactly is the meaning of life? To fall in love and get married; to hate; to get a job and earn money; to regret; to learn from our mistakes; to push our endeavors onto our children; to grow; to die? Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life takes us through a humanistic journey of the components of what makes up this inevitable and inexplicable jargon called “life.”

The Tree of Life begins with Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain), who receives a telegram one day, only to discover that one of her sons had been killed at the age of 19. Her husband, Mr. O’Brien (Brad Pitt) is then notified by the broken Mrs. O’Brien at his work. The once “perfect” family is then submerged into a world of grief.

The film then cuts to Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn), working in New York City as an architect. Jack continues to work but seems distant due to what he had said to his father before he pursued his own path. However, we are not certain of what he said.

We get a flash-back up to the “creation” of earth, which lasts about 30 minutes: molecules coming together, dinosaur extinction, the earth’s crust colliding to what forms our earth, etc. As we are eventually led up to the times of humans, we are introduced to young Jack as a baby. For the next hour of the film, we continue to see the progression of the growth of Jack; it’s obvious his empathetic mother is very loving as opposed to his father, who seems to be carry a hard-headed attitude of life.

Jack continues to grow and he becomes influenced by other boys of his age to participate in vandalism and even animal abuse, which his mother clearly disapproves of. At this point, we truly begin to notice the crumbling relationship between Jack and his father, a typical thing to experience as a child, right? Jack continues to act out in violence and theft, even stealing his mother’s underwear and throwing it into a nearby river. Mrs. O’Brien aversion to Mr. O’Brien grows, and Jack notices this. Mr. O’Brien’s job transfer causes the family to relocate.

We are now at present with adult Jack, reminiscing on his past. He is walking on a rocky terrain, which we aren’t sure if it’s in his imagination. He is then suddenly reunited with his mother, father, brothers, and everyone from his adolescent life. With his imagination, Jack brings back his dead brother and his mother reunites with him. After a few minutes of reunion, Mrs. O’Brien finally accepts his death and lets him join the afterlife in the skies.

There is nothing more liberating than watching The Tree of Life in the cinemas. Audiences cannot ask more from characters, apart from some ambiguous questions such as, “What did Jack say to his father to make him feel so bad?” The film primarily focuses on three characters: Mrs. O’Brien, Mr. O’Brien, and Jack. Character development is not an issue; however, there is no conventional characters a “classical” film supposedly needs.

Visually, The Tree of Life satisfies all videophiles. Beautiful scenic views of volcanic eruptions and microscopic glimpse of cells and molecules not only takes the audience through a documentary-esque expedition through the “land of times”, but fuses its elements with the characters of a conventional film, which brings a new kind level of entertainment. At one point I nearly forgot whether I was watching an educational History channel documentary.

At times, The Tree of Life can be difficult to digest for a traditional and modern audience. The motivations of Jack’s naive behavior and outbursts as he grows continues to disturb us as we watch him progress, even as going as far as killing a frog by attaching it to a firework. There is a scene where he deliberately tells his brother to put his finger in front of a BB gun -- only to actually pull the trigger. Religion is also another possible “conflict” in the film, which may bother a mass audience, but from my point of view, the film’s depiction of redemption is not necessarily theological. But the central message of the film was not to push religion upon the audience; rather, it is a standpoint of how one can view death as: Reincarnation or simply, Nothing. After all, it's Malick's take on life and death.

That said, The Tree of Life is not a film for everyone; even actor Sean Penn had a difficult time digesting Malick's directing format. Somewhat contrived for younger audience and possibly pretentious due to Malick’s seemingly unconventional narration style, it does accomplish one thing - pathos. It’s an extraordinary film about life of a seemingly ordinary family and how death can be interpreted as. Wonderful performances all around, and a film without much dialogue, it does extremely well with visual and musical narration; a beautiful and iconic picture. I give The Tree of Life my absolute highest recommendation.

Grade: A