Friday, August 12, 2011

Conversations with God


How is that I know precisely what “The Tree of Life” is about, yet I cannot bring myself to explain it? I am not simply talking about the plot of the film, but about the thematic density the material presents. That is the wonder of Terrence Malick’s latest film: it covers the broad, the deep, the archetypal and the collective while exploring the intricacies of family life. That a film like “The Tree of Life” gets made at all in a time where marketing often determines a film’s fate and tired romances and adventures clutter the screen, is a miracle. That the film is as momentous as it is, another.

I had reason to doubt Malick. He returned to filmmaking after a long absence with the brilliant “The Thin Red Line” (1998), followed by the self-indulgent huffing and puffing of “The New World” (2002). Then there’s the matter of loaded expectations: “Tree” won the Palm d’Or earlier this year at Cannes, and after all, this is the legendary and reclusive auteur Malick we’re talking about. In the United States, where many patrons walked out of “Tree of Life” frustrated and annoyed (not necessarily waiting for it to finish), some theatre chains put up signs explaining that not all movies are the same.

Then the film happened to me, and surely Malick is a gift to the world.

He is a poet, philosopher, theologian, and one of the best filmmakers around. The film is breath-taking and visionary. “Tree of Life” is the organic successor to “Line”, taking its exploration of consciousness and one’s awareness of oneself in the world to dizzying heights that invoke the personal and the epic. It guides you to revisit and reconsider your life as Malick’s images of being lay a framework not only of his own inward living, but of the possibilities of such living for oneself. The film stars Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain as the parents of three young boys; she is a caring mother, while he is often hard on his sons, sometimes seeming to want an audience and not so much a family. Sean Penn, whose face gets more expressive with each film he does, co-stars as a pivotal character that has almost no dialogue. All the actors are superb, with the child actors deserving a special mention.

Do not be tempted to reduce this film to a family drama. Malick here revisits his own childhood, conflicts and challenges, but it is far removed from the kind of needy “emotional exorcism” that filmmakers often commit. Malick is both too intelligent and too sensitive and intuitive for that, and the story he tells is visually, thematically and spiritually complex without calling attention to itself. I am always amazed at how Malick manages to suggest perception and subjectivity in his films, especially this one; how incredible is it that he makes another’s thoughts and feelings seem so much like your own?

Here is a film about creation, fathers, mothers, sons, belief and the threat of succumbing to the world, and it is a masterpiece. How often do I have the opportunity to refer to a film as flawless? So often we are willing to settle for less, for movies that barely get the basics right but can’t be bothered with much of anything else. “Tree of Life” sours the taste of those films, their essential futility, with its perfection. It is one of the best films I have ever seen.

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