The Tree of Life

Terrance Malick has done it again…he’s made a film that is visually beautiful, confounding, disturbing, trippy, is the explanation of everything and nothing, all at the same time. There’s a mother, a father (not a “Daddy” as he would have been known in Texas where most of the action seems to take place), and three brothers. Their lives are steeped in faith in God, appearances, impressions, guilt, and resentment. This is not exactly your happy little family of the 50’s. The performances are believable. Brad Pitt exemplifies a semi-Daddy Dearest that can be perceived as the epitome of fatherhood and scariness, without being a serial killer or the Texas Chainsaw massacre leatherface character. You feel for his wife, his children, and can tell there’s an undercurrent of tension once the children become cognizant that life is not going to be carefree or easy. This was an extremely difficult film for this writer to wrap her head around, or even sit down to watch all the way through. Mr. Malick apparently saw 2001, A Space Odyssey, too many times. The minute it became apparent that this took place in Waco, the thought of the Davidians and the tragic results of religious cultism came to mind. Best picture, maybe the French saw something I didn’t at Cannes. Cie la vie. Rating: 2.75 stars