Tree of Life Takes Chances, One Day probes beginnings

(Aug. 25, 2011) REVIEWS:

THE TREE OF LIFE

The Tree of Life

As a writer and director, Terrence Malick has always created off-beat films. Perhaps as a result, they have only been recognized in retrospect for their quality. Days of Heaven (1978) may now be recognized as a landmark film of the 1970s, but it received mixed reviews when it opened and did not enjoy great box office success. Perhaps because of the reaction to his films, Malick has only directed five feature films, beginning with Badlands in 1973. The Tree of Life is his first film since his excellent The New World in 2005, and it is the most experimental film you are likely to see in a general release movie.

I would guess that no two viewers will interpret The Tree of Life the same way. Indeed, the film seems designed to tap into the individual viewer’s psyche in regard to how that person sees the universe and his/her place in it. Nor does Malick shy away from religious themes as most commercial films do for fear of alienating one demographic or another. Perhaps more accurately given what religion has come to signify in our current society, the film deals with spiritual matters.

The film signals this intent from the opening title, which is a quote from the Book of Job that begins “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation…?” Following some abstract imagery, we see Mrs. O’Brien (the wonderfully effective Jessica Chastain, recently seen in The Help) discover that one of her sons has died at age 19, beginning the very episodic base narrative.

Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn) is now an architect but confesses to his father (Brad Pitt) that he thinks of his dead brother every day. When Jack sees a tree being planted, the film cuts to a series of images that appear to represent the formation of the earth. While the middle part of the film depicts the three sons growing up in 1950s Texas, the real narrative is how one finds a purpose for life.

The senior O’Brien, clearly disappointed with how his eldest son turns out, is a loving father but also a stern disciplinarian who is occasionally abusive. He seems obsessed in particular that Jack (Hunter McCracken is the young Jack) grows up to be his own man, but Jack becomes alienated by his father’s approach and disappointed in his mother for letting her husband roll over her.

This examination of family dynamics and grief is a springboard for the film’s main concern: How do we connect death and life? How do we make sense of the chaos? At the beginning, the film posits a dichotomy between Nature and Grace, one demanding and the other accepting. When Mr. O’Brien’s plant shuts down, the film concludes with a sort of rapture where connections are once again made. It turns out that the dichotomy is not a duality at all; we are all part of the tree of life.

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