Thus begins the film, "The Tree of Life;" a journey into the microcosm of human family dynamics juxtaposed against the infinite macrocosm of Gods creation. A daunting task for any film director to tackle, yet Terrence Malick's almost 20 year project, from back when he was lecturing on philosophy at M.I.T., succeeds in painting the enigma of creation in all it's simple glory and in all it's grand complexity. Movie goers should expect to experience a visceral, audio and visual feast which has to be "felt," and not necessarily understood. The same is true with life.
This Cannes Film Festival 2011 "Palme d'Or" winner comes with homework. One cannot simply watch it and go away entertained and satisfied, having enjoyed a soda and popcorn, ready for bed and a new day in the morning. No... this is a film that gnaws at ones soul, gets under your skin and enters your subconscious. It's food for dreams and thought that might last a lifetime.
Only one other work had such an impact on me as to keep me wondering about it all my life. It was the classic Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke collaboration, "2001: a space odyssey." Here is an un-feeling universe filled with cold machines that stimulate human evolution and perplexed creatures, animal as well as human, wonder about their place in the cosmos; a computer gone mad and an enigmatic yet benign extraterrestrial entity, so advanced as to be beyond any human understanding.
Malick's view of life is less severe, warmer; yet it too contains it's dangers and it's enigmas. It is a universe filled with love, wonder and joy, but also evil and a
subtle melancholy similar to that of Job's in the Bible. It leads us to recognize that bad things DO happen to good people, and there is nothing we can do about it. All we can do is hold on to each other with love and trust in God's goodness. And if we stop loving... we've had it.
"The nuns told us there are two paths in life. The way of nature and the way of grace. You've got to choose which path you will take." This opening line from Jessica Chastain's character gives the viewer a very large piece of this puzzling film. Images of nature and grace abound in it, and in real life as well, if one has eyes to see. Volcanic magma meets sea water in a burst of steam. A powerful animal dominates a weaker one, only to retreat as if to have some kind of primordial and instinctual emotion of compassion. A man who violently chastises his child, soon after enfolds him in a tender and loving embrace. A wife who, in self defense, attacks her husband is only to be restrained, dominated by raw nature. And yet the two end in an almost erotic position of unified love and forgiveness. We are all animals and subject to the hard edged laws of the natural world, yet grace seems to bring out our humanity. It gives us a soul and it can pull us back from the brink of brute force and absolute perdition if only we let it.
Although man is a creature fallen from grace, there can be eventual salvation and a resolution to all of his deepest desires and losses. Malick; director, writer and philosopher hints at the realization that there is a gentle and infinitely loving God and that He has given us a way out of our self inflicted torture. One thing Malick is not, is a pessimist.
As the good provider that God is, the pathway back to the Tree of Life CAN be found, but one must actively seek to find it. Sean Penn's character, an architect finding himself imprisoned in the very steel and glass cathedrals that he builds in mans honor, broods and struggles with his own brute nature to find the way back into to the light of grace and the glory that belongs to God alone.
Even though we have lost all sight of paradise through a single act of disobedience by ingesting the forbidden and poisonous fruit of the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," it can be found again. As soon as we ate from that deadly tree, our eyes were opened and we were suddenly deluded into believing the original and death dealing sin; that we could "know the mind of God." Worse yet, that we were little gods ourselves. And there lies the root of all of man's sufferings and evil inclinations. The biblical story of Lucifer clearly illustrates the point. Pride goes before the fall.
Yet God's love, mercy and providence eventually allow us to see the truth that we are not gods after all. Jesus tried to tell us that. We do not have all the answers. We must leave all the big questions behind and simply trust that in God's hands all will be well and that good will eventually triumph over evil, not because of any of our actions, concepts or works, but only because of God's infinite love and unfailing mercy towards us and all of His precious creatures.
If you're wondering how a movie could convey these deep philosophical truths and subtle questionings about the meaning of all things, I suggest you buy or rent it. But keep an open mind and an open heart. Your brain may not grasp it. But your soul might be refreshed.
INTERACTIVE WEB SITE FOR "THE TREE OF LIFE"
http://www.twowaysthroughlife.com/
STUDENTS OF "THE LONDON SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY"
REACT TO "THE TREE OF LIFE"
http://www.lst.ac.uk/hot-topics/the-tree-of-life
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