The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Tree of Life which won the Palme D’Or in the 64th Cannes Film Festival, is a creation of Terrence Malick, direcor of such classics as Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line. It was the closing film of the 16th French Film Festival here in Manila, and is now in its commercial run.

The Tree of Life is not your usual run-of-the-mill type of film. In line for this movie, I overheard one movie-goer say that this movie would be a talkie. I expected the movie to be such until it went into dramatic sequences featuring the cosmos, nature and microbes. It was a visual marvel matched by an operatic musical score – like the director was painting in real time while inside a big church with the choir singing in the background.

However, a word of caution for those used to watching films using conventional narratives, because the non-linear shifts made by the director from one moment to the next are not effective in bringing out the story.

But then, the visuals are so stunning that one tends to focus on the images rather than follow the real story. The sprawling scenes awaken one’s innermost thoughts, feelings and experiences. All throughout the film until I left the cinema, I found myself riddled with questions about life, faith and the universe.

Family drama

The film was attempting to correlate the miracle of birth with the creation of the universe. It wanted to send the message of how the evolution of humans was very much connected to how the world was formed.

The story itself was a unique type of coming-of-age and family film. The setting was in Midwest, Texas during the 1950s, featuring the O’Brien family (with the parents played by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain), with focus on the complicated relationship between a son and a father.

When the eldest son Jack was still a baby, the softer side of the father was quite evident, but his military style of disciplining his children took over as the boys grew up. This causes Jack to lash out against others, including his brother who he is envious of because he inherited their father's talent to play the piano.

On the other hand, Jack's mother was the epitome of devotedness as a housewife and kindness towards her children. For the three boys, she was a form of respite from their very strict father, allowing them a kind of freedom they don't get from their father, even if that freedom was sometimes abused.

As an adult, Jack (played by Sean Penn) continues to be tormented with raging feelings against his father.

This is compounded by the death of one of his brothers, who he continues to think of even as an adult. While thinking of his late brother, Jack begins travelling in his mind, depicted in the movie as Jack walking across the rugged terrain near a beach.

This culminates in something of a surreal scene where we see people roaming around the beach, among them the O’Brien family with their kids, and an all-grown up Jack.

The elder Jack crosses paths with his father carrying a younger version of himself, as his father used to when Jack was a child. The elder Jack does not say much but his worn-out face shows how lost he is in his life, under the weight of all his unresolved issues from the past.

The scene can be seen as an illustration, a portrait of a surviving family. It also shows that family conflicts, like the ravages in nature as shown in those marvelous visuals, do happen and must be confronted and dealt with head on. Upon finding his father on the beach with his family, Jack finds the heart to forgive him, ending the film with that new hope.

The film may not be for movie-goers expecting the conventional narrative type of movie but certainly for those who love amazing visuals, non-linear narration and those who loved to wander in their thoughts right after watching the film.

Poster used here for purposes of reivew. Copyright is believed to belong to Fox Searchlight Pictures.