'The Tree of Life' (2011) written and directed by Terrence Malick is a masterpiece and easily, one of the best films ever made.
Of course there were many who thought 'The Tree of Life' was a pretentious, arty, confusing, mess; I’ll get to you in a second...
The parallel to this film is of course, Malick's 1998 film 'The Thin Red Line'; in the sense of it's philosophical comments on 'nature' and ‘grace', but 'The Tree of Life's roots go much much deeper and have transformed from the ethereal and aloof ‘nature’ and ‘grace’ to far more human attributes; ‘instinct’ and ‘self-reflection’. And though instinct will be readily accepted as synonymous with nature, can grace become synonymous with self-reflection?
And so begins our review:
'The Tree of Life': Terrence Malick's 'beautifully-argued case for self-reflection’:
Sean Penn’s character is at work.
During his work day, he starts reflecting on his childhood, his brother, his father, his mother, his life, the human race, super novas, dinosaurs, primordial molten-lava, and ultimately the birth of the universe itself.
So if you thought this film was arty, confusing and pretentious, read the above scenario again and ask yourself if it sounds like, well, something all of us have reflected upon from time-to-time?
So where were we?... oh yeah, Sean Penn was reflecting...
and so, what Sean discovers, is that when one reflects on one's life, the path of grace will, in fact, reveal itself. For those moments of grace are clear because you can feel them; their warmth; they lift you up, they bring you clarity, and everything softens. And although these feelings are emotional and self-reflection is an abstract work as this film must be in order to properly portray such an act, there is nonetheless, a very deliberate, conscious and human process taking place, as it must. For how else can one learn from this life but from that universal and very human art of self-reflection?
Self-reflection: The study and interpretation of one's memories in the pursuit of grace for guidance. (my definition)
The crux of the above definition is encompassed in the very final shot of the film:
Sean Penn cracking a whisper of a grin.
But this isn’t any off-the-cuff grin; this is the grin that Sean cracked immediately following the entire viewing of 'The Tree of Life'.
Do you see it now?
Sean Penn just saw the same movie we all just saw; albeit in his head, but so what?
Do you see it now?
This subtle grin contains the entire movie and this entire review.
This grin is all of humanity, and this is exactly what the grin says:
I am here…somehow. There are planets and stars. There were dinosaurs. I can feel the sun and the water on my face. I can feel the bullet and the slap and the tears. I love my family. We are imperfect. We struggle. We are trying. I will try my best to move through it all with, and by remembering… grace.
And the gift of grace is given to those that stop and self-reflect:
"The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates
Now, although nature and grace has been covered in the 'Thin Red Line', in 'The Tree of Life', their relationship to each other is completely turned on it's head, and this is crucial for an understanding of the evolution of Malick's philosophy.
In 'The Thin Red Line', all violent acts appear representative of 'nature' and thus, must be, in opposition to ‘grace'. However, Malick’s view of nature in ‘The Thin Red Line’ was unfair for nature’s ‘nature' will always lack conscious intent and therefore, could never lose grace as it can never possess it. Two scenes from 'The Thin Red Line' come to mind that exemplify this mistake:
Wood Harrelson blowing his own ass off with a grenade.
The lone wounded-and-dying-bird-shot.
These two events, were completely unconscious acts; retaining their innocence, unaltered; simply accidents; unconscious acts of nature. Woody didn't mean to pull the pin on his own grenade and nobody meant to kill a sole bird on such a massive battleground.
But although the tragedies in ‘The Thin Red Line’ were accidents of no direct conscious intent, they were nonetheless, casualties of WW2; the direct result of a very conscious and deliberate war raging all around them.
In stark contrast to this, 'The Tree of Life', placed it’s random tragedies in a very mundane setting. In ‘The Tree of Life’, when accidental death is encountered, such as the drowning boy or the news of the dead soldier, Malick gives them no grand setting; no overpowering action in which to scapegoat the event.
Who were the dead?
How did they die?
Who is responsible for their deaths?
Unlike ‘The Thin Red Line’s grand context, in ‘The Tree of Life’ these points become moot; irrelevant; all death lies in the nature of the unconscious, and although the events leading up to death may be violent and cruel, death itself remains unconscious; without intent; natural, and so, of 'grace'.
The lion devours the zebra; the volcano consumes the town; the cancer attacks the breast, the war levels the soldiers.
This may be the dark side of nature as some might define it, but make no mistake, this unconscious nature is the complete and polar opposite to the very different nature of human consciousness that Malick's shift in philosophy is attempting to specifically address. In 'The Tree of Life’. Malick has now moved to examining 'nature' and ‘grace’ only in regards to the realm of the human mind. Lions, breast cancer, volcanos, accidental drownings, and dead soldiers are always external - of nature, and thus excluded from Malick's new model of nature and grace; that exists only in human consciousness; this bipolar affliction of instinct versus self-reflection. Only the human being can travel the path of nature to grace and back to nature and back to grace ad-infinitum. This is the primary concern for Malick now; this is the only dualism; this is humankind’s plight and humankind’s alone.
And so, Malick asks, can the human mind conquer nature with grace.
And of the mind, what is grace?
The answer, he suggests is a universal and very human one:
Self-reflection.
This may seem simplistic, but entertain, for a moment, won't you, the simplicity of the film's setting; that being:
A few thoughts in the head of an average man on an average day.
There is no war of nations, great biblical events, murder-plots, big-government conspiracies, fascist states, historical exploitation, body counts, oppression, or racism.
Again, the setting is mundane - a few thoughts in the mind - that is it.
For grace is a subtle and delicate creature and so, to perceive her full beauty undistracted, Malick pulls back the curtains, removes the large props and the epic setting, burns the script and goes abstract; follows the path of grace inwards, to the story of the mind, the film within, set in a thought process; set in that universal and solely human art of self-reflection.
For self-reflection is the innate gift given to us all. All human beings self-reflect. Self-reflection has no particular religion or philosophy; no specific politics or sciences, or faith or convictions; and so, without grand context, with naught but one’s own mind, will 'grace' reveal itself by way of relf-reflection alone?
I believe Malick would say “yes”.
And with the path of grace laid out before us when we self-reflect, will we follow it?
In 'The Tree of Life', Malick says that this is up to us but if we do, we can be reborn, (a concept hijacked by religious institutions immemorial and blatantly re-claimed in this film by the very effective symbolism of passing through portals/vaginal/door-like openings) and experience profound epiphany; find 'grace'.
For although self-reflection gives us unfettered access to grace, and can be presented to us with uncommon ease, it is a gift revealed but never given.
Malick grants us free will to determine our next action, however, whether or not this action follows the way of grace or instinct?; well that is, of course, determined by the choices we make. But regardless of our background, we are human and we are conscious and we will self-reflect and grace will reveal itself - what is next?; free will; we have choices to make in our mind; a path to take; 'grace' or 'nature'; self-reflection or instinct.
And so if you stop, just for a few moments and self-reflect, grace will reveal itself effortlessly to you and fill up your heart and the entire world as it did for Sean Penn; in just a few thoughts on a single day. The universe fundamentally changed for him in a split second, as it can for all of us... but only if we practice, and are open to self-reflection..
Now don't you feel like the beginnings of that final shot; the sparkling eyes and a gentle whisper of a grin?