(film, 2011)
Most filmgoers are used to movies that have a clear narrative structure—like a novel—and can be easily accessed and understood. For such viewers Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life might seem an impenetrable piece of filmmaking. It is more akin to poetry than it is to prose—visual poetry filled with beautiful and evocative images, a complex structure of storytelling, and a great deal of ambiguity and mystery. If you are looking primarily for a story, you will doubtless be disappointed. But for those willing to approach it more as a work to contemplate than a work to entertain, The Tree of Life offers one of the most theologically rich and emotionally moving experiences to be found in any film.
Opening with a quotation from the book of Job, The Tree of Life undertakes an exploration of much of the same territory as that biblical book: the problem of suffering, the seeming absence of God, and the glorious way he is revealed in his created universe. All this is explored through the eyes of Jack, an adult on a quest to make some meaning out of his life, who reflects upon some of the events of his earlier life, particularly the all-too-early death of his kind and saintly brother, R. L. The scenes of his family life growing up fill the largest part of the running time of the film, as we see the struggles between a father who approaches the harsh realities of life by striving for control and power and a mother who glories in the wonder and magic of life. As his mother teaches him, “There are two ways through life, the way of nature and the way of grace.” This dichotomy, symbolized by his parents, is at the heart of the film. Jack’s father wants to teach his sons to be tough and hardened so they can survive the harshness of this fallen world. Jack’s mother wants her sons to see that there is a better path: “The only way to be happy is to love. Unless you love, your life will flash by. Do good. Wonder. Hope. Help each other. Love everyone. Every leaf. Every ray of light. Forgive.” Living in a life filled with splendor and with pain, she tells her sons, requires an embrace of the way of grace.
Much of the dialogue in the film consists of the whispered prayers of the main characters: seeking God’s help or seeking to understand why he doesn’t seem to be helping. The visuals often say more than the words do, and are frequently nothing short of breathtaking. Malick’s camera lingers on the powerful rush of water plunging over a waterfall, a father’s amazement at studying the feet of his infant son, light filtering down through trees, a spiral of stained glass, sparklers glowing on the front lawn on a warm summer night, and an extended meditation on the creation and evolution of the universe that dares to envisage what it might have been like to be there. There is also powerful imagery representing the course of the spiritual journey Jack travels as he stumbles toward spiritual rebirth, including a doorway in the middle of the desert and a stirring reunion with loved ones past and present on an ocean shore. For this is ultimately a film about redemption. Not about finding all the answers but finding the love that allows some questions to go unanswered.
Born in Texas in 1943, Terrence Malick is a reclusive director who likes to let his films speak for themselves. He gives very few interviews and hence it can be difficult to piece together the full story of his personal life or his own interpretations of his work. He is the son of a geologist and spent much of his early life in Waco, Texas, which is the setting for The Tree of Life. He had two younger brothers, one of whom, Larry, was an accomplished guitarist who purposely broke his own hands because he could not master the guitar at the level he desired. Larry later committed suicide, an event that had a lasting effect on Malick and may have been influential in energizing his spiritual search.
Malick studied philosophy at Harvard and Oxford, writing his unfinished thesis on the thought of Martin Heidegger. His translation of one of Heidegger’s books remains in print. After college he worked as a journalist for such magazines as Newsweek, The New Yorker, and Life, before finally deciding to pursue his growing interest in film. After achieving some success as a screenwriter, he decided he wanted to direct his own scripts. His first major film, Badlands (1973), was a critical success, as was the gorgeously filmed Days of Heaven (1978), which earned an Oscar for cinematography and a Best Director prize at Cannes Film Festival.
The Tree of Life movie poster [The Kobal Collection/ Art Resource, New York]
Then Malick disappeared from the Hollywood radar. He lived for a time in Paris, where he wrote some more screenplays, but he didn’t release another film for twenty years. He finally broke the silence with The Thin Red Line (1998), a philosophically and spiritually informed picture about the horror and dehumanization of war, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Much of the dialogue in this film is done in voice-over, capturing the internal meditations, and sometimes the prayers, of his characters. His next film, The New World (2005), told the story of John Smith and Pocahontas with his usual focus on human complexity and the astonishing splendor of the natural world.
When The Tree of Life was released in 2011 it was only Malick’s fifth feature-length film. It was followed uncharacteristically quickly by To the Wonder (2013), which explores the nature of love, both human and divine. Like The Tree of Life, it is rich in spiritual musings and constructed around a complicated narrative structure.
Malick is a perfectionist, which is one of the reasons for the lengthy space of time between releases. His working method is to shoot lots of footage and then create the film in the editing room out of the miles of film. Sometimes, much to the dismay of the actors involved, their entire performances end up on the cutting room floor and they are not seen at all in the finished film. But those performances that make the cut are almost always very strong and naturalistic. He manages to get the best out of his actors and also from the cinematographers, who capture the beauty of the natural world that provides the indispensable backdrop to every Malick picture. One of the trademarks of his style is to include frequent pauses in the action of the film that allow the viewer to contemplate for some length the shining grandeur of God’s world.
Those who have worked with Malick are often effusive in their praise—not only for the working experience but also for the effect that he has had upon them through his personality and convictions. The great cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki said that working with Malick changed him as a parent, a spouse, a friend, and a human being. Martin Sheen has spoken of the willingness of Malick to engage in conversation on the deepest and most profound issues of life, and credits Malick’s suggestion that he read The Brothers Karamazov with being a spiritual turning point in his own life.
Terrence Malick is very protective of his private life, but from the bits and pieces we know of the man, it is clear that there are autobiographical elements to many of his films. He implicitly asks, however, that we make our judgments based upon the films themselves. Films like The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life, and To the Wonder give clear evidence of a man who takes spiritual realities very seriously and calls upon Christian theology and practice to help us better understand our world and ourselves. Malick uses the medium of film—the most cumbersome and commercially driven of artistic forms—to engage us in a series of questions about beauty, meaning, relationships, and God; an artistic contemplation of the intersection between the human and the divine. For that he deserves our patient attention, which will be bountifully rewarded.