Daily Connect: Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" and the Function of Memory

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I saw Terrence Malick’s new movie, “The Tree of Life” this past weekend. It transported me to a truly unique style of cinematographic narrative, and felt like a true evocation of the way childhood memories are actually stored in our consciousnesses.

Set in a 50’s or 60’s Waco Texas, three young brothers (one of whom dies later, though this is never depicted) coast through the movements of childhood and ‘tween life with a loving but mildly abusive father (Brad Pitt) and a weak but well intentioned mother.

To say the film is visually stunning would be an understatement. Malick takes you way out there, and the result is a coherent nonlinear narrative that would almost work without sound just as well as with the music, ethereal voiceovers, and dialogue that dot the long arc of the film. The Tree of Life is the first feature length Hollywood movie I’ve seen in a while where the dialogue functions more like background than plot-propeller, and it works extremely well.

I know the movie has received some mixed reviews, and some of them seem partially warranted. Sean Penn appears as one of the boys in modern day adult life, but his part in the plot is ultimately useless, almost as if his few scenes are just there to remind us that Brad Pitt AND Sean Penn are both in this movie, as well as to remind us that boys do indeed grow up into men.

Also, because Malick goes all the way into symbolism (and I mean ALL the way), the more visionary scenes in the movie (the early history of the Earth replayed, as well as a final nontemporal family reunion on a Beach of Clichés) can seem a bit (or very) indulgent. Warning that three minutes of this movie is actually stolen from Jurassic Park. That was a bit unexpected. However, this work of art is definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

Ultimately, anyone interested in the mind ought to immerse themselves in this nostalgic world, where memory, art, and religious purpose collide beautifully.

In other news, there’s a conspiracy to get me to see Bridesmaids, but I think I might wait for the DVD on that one.

Have a great weekend, all.