The Tree of Life

I went to watch a movie titled - The Tree of Life yesterday by myself. Oh.. How I sometimes enjoyed being in cinema, sitting alone in darkness, quietly and thoughtfully savouring the movie.

 

 

 

The tree of life is an impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950's. The movie follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meanings of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malicks signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.  

I think most people will have mixed feelings about the movie. It is not the typical Hollywood kind of movie which is very entertaining and exciting. There is no plot, in the conventional sense of the word. Dialogue is rarely shared between the actors. There are long stretches where not a word is spoken.

At other times, our understanding of the film hinges on a fragment of a whispered line that floats out of the sound mix, then whizzes away out of earshot. If you hang in till the end, this is a movie that will lodge itself in your mind on a permanent basis, a haven to which your thoughts will journey in the days and years to come.

To me, this movie is a prayer. It simplifies the deep cries of every soul in this vast universe, if only we don't crowd our ears with too much noise and allow ourselves to listen, truly listen.

There are many nice quotes in the movie. My favourite is this one. 

'The nuns taught us there were two ways through life - the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow. Grace doesn't try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things. The nuns taught us that no one who loves the way of grace ever comes to a bad end.' 


May I choose the way of grace always. :)