Posted: 10/10/2011

The Tree of Life

(2011)

by Ruben R. Rosario

Now available on Blu-Ray and DVD from 20th Century Fox.

Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is the equivalent of having a religious experience in the form of cinema. It is his fifth film as a director and quite possibly his most daring attempt to revitalize cinema in it’s purest form. The narrative of the film follows the O’Brian family living in a rural town of Texas in the 1950’s. We see both of them trying to raise their three sons to become men, with Mr. O’Brian (Brad Pitt) playing the stern father and Mrs. O’Brian (Jessica Chastain) being the tenderly mother. As the film moves along, we follow the eldest son, Jack (Sean Penn) as he is far removed from his past surroundings and tries to rekindle his relationship with his family and his faith that was lost long ago.

While Malick deserves all the credit for creating such a film, another person that is to be credited for this cinematic masterpiece is Tree of Life’s cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki. Footage of volcanoes, underwater life and various other locales make The Tree of Life this religious experience. It is the relationship with these images and marrying them to the narrative that gives the film its emotional weight as well as its beauty. Douglas Trumbull, the legendary Special FX guru, has also contributed towards the beauty of some of the space sequences within the film after not working in cinema for close to 30 years.

The performance by all of the actor’s in The Tree of Life are also very impressionistic. Brad Pitt as the stern father plays the performance really well. We see the elements of what makes a good strong father, stern and strict at times with his three boys as well as being sweet and tenderly in a few fleeting moments. Jessica Chastain’s performance is ethereal as the mother of the family and creates the backbone of the faith within the family. Each of the three young boys do a great job at capturing what youth was like in 50’s, like playing outside or kick the can. The one problem that I do have with the film, which serves as a marriage to all the themes reflected upon and the family is the element of the Jack being older.

While it’s attempts at connecting all of the themes, the portion of the narrative with Sean Penn lacks cohesiveness and is disconnected from the rest of the whole film. The times that we see him are far less interesting than the times we have with the family or the origin of the universe. While the ending does serve it’s purpose, as a reconnection to one’s family and faith though Penn, the weight, in my personal opinion could have been further fleshed out as much as his character was when he was a child.

The Tree of Life is an extremely polarizing film by a master filmmaker. People will either be able become simpatico with the images and aspirations that the film sets out or they will simply be put off by the films images and non-linear structure. I’m not the biggest fan of the film in terms of Malick’s other films, but that isn’t to say that its an important film none the less. For the simple fact that Malick has such aspirations of connecting images and performances to emulate the crisis of faith and origins of where we, as human beings come from is quite a feat. Again, it’s not for everyone but the bottom line is that Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is a cinematic experience like no other film thus far.

Ruben R. Rosario is a graduate from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Audio for Visual Media. He works as a freelance location sound mixer, boom operator, sound designer, and writer in his native Chicago. He’s an avid collector of films, comics, and anime.

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