Review of The Tree of Life (2011) by San C — 10 Jan 2015

I've been going through a lot of firsts lately, and this is the first Terrence Malick film I've seen so far. Prior to this, I've only known about his visual style that includes a freely wandering camera and a tendency to emphasize visuals over story.

So, with that in mind what did I think of this? Well, to be sure it is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. There's also a heavily spiritual undercurrent that makes every line and image pregnant with meaning, as long as you're willing to look for it.

This is a very esoteric and philosophically dense film, and also very opaque in terms of what it means. There are a number of threads and themes which I was able to pick out, but I challenge anyone to really give a definitive interpretation.

The basic story is about a family in 1950's Texas. There's the mother and father, played by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, and their three boys. The mother and father are fairly opposite in personality and approach to parenting, and this has a significant effect on their oldest son.

One major theme that kept coming up was that of tragedy and how we respond to it. What the film seemed to be saying is that tragedy comes to us all, but what matters is how we deal with it. The film also deals with issues of childhood, growing up and the parent-child relationship.

It also deals with life and love in a very broad, spiritual manner. I'm still trying to piece it together, but I must say that I liked it more than I thought I would. Terrence Malick is a filmmaker whose filmography I look forward to delving deeper into.

This first look at the way he artfully combines images and music was very impressive. I also loved the soundtrack and score, composed almost exclusively of classical music. Some might find this type of film too arty or pretentious, but I was ok with it.

That being said, one does have to have a measure of patience to watch this kind of film, and also not mind having little spelled out in terms of narrative or interpretation. If you're fine with that, then I heartily recommend this.