The Tree Of Life

IMDb Link

Remember the last 20 minutes of Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odissey" that made you feel as if you had ingested LSD by accident? This film is like that, for over 2 hours. But in a good way. I'd say this is "2001" meets "Koyaanisqatsi" meets Tarkovsky. I am not sure what it all meant, but I'll try to tell you what it meant to me. But before I do, I have to admit that I at first thought that 138 minutes of this would be daunting, but these were some of the fastest 138 minutes I've spent and if the rumors about a 6-hour version are true, then sign me up!

As usual, the camera work is stunning, the images are awesome (in its true meaning, not the surfer's "dude: awesome!" meaning), putting any HD nature show out there to shame.

In short, this is the best coming-of-age movie ever. This is one of the best movies about nostalgia for childhood ever. This is one of the strangest films that deals about these two topics. Ever.

Malick is a genius, Malick is a mad man. Malick is a humanist. Malick is a naturist (no, I don't mean he walks around naked. Then again, he might, nobody knows).
The childhood depicted here has absolutely no points in common with my own, yet I felt nostalgia for something I have not lived through, for a childhood that is not my own. If that isn't a sign of genius from Mr Malick, then I don't know what is.

Somebody some day said something about Mozart (yes, I'm all about researching the hell out of everything before I write) and on top of that, I'll be paraphrasing it: Mozart writes such beautiful music that even the silence that follows is by him.

I'll say the same about this film. It is so beautiful that the darkness that follows is still by Malick.

Some people told me that nothing happens in this film. The truth is that EVERYTHING happens in this film, almost literally. This is the birth of the Earth, of humanity, of emotions.

It's about life, death, eternity. It's about how we're only tourists on this planet, like the dinousaurs were.

Everything is connected, the planets, humans, animals, plants, we are conceived, we make memories and have regrets, then we die. The blood in our bodies, the water on Earth, the dust in space, it's all the same...

Then there's water, lots of water. Needed for life, for everyone and everything. Even the music (particularly Smetana's "Moldau") reinforces this.

So, it's about life, death, happiness, sadness.

Oh, and also: light. At the end of tunnels, hallways, up beyond trees, behind and through windows, at the top of stairs, behind planets, all the way beyond the sky, up above our heads, always present.
Light, representing the life at the end of the tunnel, like when you are born. Like when you die.

But nature can also be violent and cruel: magma, lava, moving, changing, sharks, snakes, dinosaurs.
Death is everywhere, it's a part of life. It's random, senseless and relentless. And only humans seem to make it into a big deal. Only humans seem to not realize there's something bigger than our petty souls. That is in fact my only qualm about the film: its underlying religious message. Or maybe there isn't one (but since it starts with a quote from the Bible, I might not be that wrong).

So humans are saved and/or comforted by religion and music. But then we got jealousy. Greed. Lust. Envy.
Throw in a strict father and a pinch of Oedipus into the mix, let it simmer for many years, and you get one happy camper. Played, oh so surprisingly, by the happiest of them all: Sean Penn.

You know how they say right before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes?
This film feels like this. A life, flashing past, random memories and knowledge and sounds. Not all the details are perfectly remembered, it's a jumble, an avalanche of memories, of love and hate and good times
and bad times.
I think that's what's happening to Sean Penn's character. "The Tree of Life" could be called "The Journey of Death." It's the same thing... It has its roots (literally and figuratively) in darkness, growing towards the light. But then it all ends.

And then, there's nothingness. For ever.