Film Review Five: "The Tree of Life"

The Tree of Life: A Reflection

Director: Terrence Malick

Distributor: Summit Entertainment

Lead Actors: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain

Running Time: 138 minutes

            As filmmaker Paul Cox states, “Reality is riddled with dreams and unrealities.” The reality within Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is just this. The film’s intricate representations of dreams and memory blend together to form a surreal world. In fact, this world is solely dreams and unrealities.  

            Not a novice to directing or screenwriting, Malick’s newest film is truly a work of his own. The film has a rather loose narrative that deals with the dynamics of a southern family, flashing between decades of time. In present day, Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn) mourns on the anniversary of his brother’s death—he was killed as a soldier in the war when he was nineteen. When this news is first received, Mr. O’Brien (Brad Pitt) and Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) face the difficulties and regrets of losing a child. Their worries and wishes compose much of the spoken word in the film, urging acceptance and peace.

Just as Mr. O’Brien explains to his three sons, the word subjectivity means it comes from your own mind. Terrence’s work is subjectivity defined: personal thoughts, prayers and memories are whispered throughout the film, played over such wondrous images as ocean tides, a boy swimming through his house underwater, and cavernous spaces. It is a series of the characters’ relflections.

Because the minimal storyline in the film focuses on a family tragedy, one may wonder as to why there is a lengthy sequence of nature shots towards the middle of the film. Comets crash into earth, cells form, exotic fish swim and dinosaurs roam. Dinosaurs?

Yes, dinosaurs.

However out of place this portion of the work may seem, it is an answer—an answer to Mrs. O’Brien’s questions of where we come from, and who is listening when we need them. Meaning aside, it is a wonderful series of natural beauty that one marvels at. Mrs. O’Brien asks and we are shown the answers—the beginnings of life as we know it.  

The most flooring aspect of the film is that it displays visions of the past as one imagines it in the mind, which is not an easy task. As I watched the film alone, I realized what a very personal experience I was having with The Tree of Life. Places from our childhood turn into distant, foreign yet all the while familiar realities; much like a dream, it is hard to discern between past truths and imaginations. This is the connection I made with the film, as well as why it brought me to tears. The work is a lovely visual representation of the relationship one has with the past, as well as to their personal thoughts.

Yes, it is a long film.  Many may argue that it should have been an hour shorter or not have been made at all. But, it is the work’s length that makes it that much more of a dream sequence. The reflections of four people are expressed throughout the film, something that certainly takes a great amount of time to express fully.

Another theme explored in Malick’s work is that of identity and how it changes over time. In the gorgeous final sequence of the film, on an unidentified beach Jack meets with his younger self (Hunter McCracken). They seem content with one another and Jack rejoices with his parents, and several others assumed to be from his entire life. They commune and comfort one another. They find release.

This release is finally found after a stream of consciousness journey. From the beginning of the world, the story jumps to Mr. O’Brien spraying his sons with the garden hose and to the young boys learning to talk—from dinosaurs to piano lessons. It is this fact that the film is not so much a story as it is a reflection, a scattered line of thought. It’s a work of art.

            The Tree of Life is riddled with dreams and unrealities, and we see it on every limb.