Monday, December 26, 2011



The Tree of Life - 2011
by Terrence Malick


As tradition has overtime,
set in stone the shapes and
transitions of films
worldwide
the debut of a a picture
such as
"The Tree of Life",
means more than a
broadcasting of mere
experimentation
[as opposing
to what regular so called experimental films
mean]
for it offers,
cinematographically speaking
,
an alternative route,
and that said with no use of demagogy,
to the best 'cinema' can offer
.

Malick´s tempo is at times,
a puzzling feature
, demanding
a certain degree of familiarity

that is not at first enjoyed
by most of its spectators
,
for without a measure of analysis
and complacency
the unusul cuts
and
ballet like sequence of images

would assuredly be an impediment
to a casual viewer.


But however dense the visual
and sensorial
aspects of
"The Tree of Life" may appear
it is far less pretentious
than its discourse.


It displays itself as an ultimate
tribute to life on this planet
,
transcending the boundaries of civilizations
and eras
, being in its own way
a cinematographic cross
adaptation of
Charles Darwin's
"Origins of the Species" and the
4 Christian Gospels
adapted to a
1950´s version of the United States
.
A task performed quite
outstandingly we may add
,
but that by its own nature,
was like trying to swallow a
whole chicken
in only one bite.


However, Malick´s Iliad prevailed,
due to its impressive virtues,
best summed by Jessica Chastain (who
so beutifuly Played Mrs. O´Brien in the film)

in a recent interview: [The film]
"Is more of an experience,
It´s like a visual poem,
is like a philosophy lesson."

and indeed it is, at times.


It´s by that light, by an aura of lyricism
and sensibility
, that the whole
picture revolves
, and [for the most part]
progresses towards an even more
intense experience
, towards an
even more poem like audiovisual
display
, towards a firmer
consciousness of self
and collectiveness
.
And so it was
, in sum:
'too good to be true'
.

The Truth in "The Tree of Life",
the Honest and Pure in
its whole
is drawn from
the interactions of a family

with the matters of life
.
We see generations Struggling
with what Life is,
as if a
full picture of it could never
be painted, as if it were always
unveiling itself more widely
and more intensely

that we are led to infer
that it
can never be fully grasped
.
That it´s continual, independent of time,
independent of species.

So much so that Grace, embodied by
Chastain
´s Character, is introduced
almost as an attitude

of reverence
and self awareness
towards life itself.
Brad Pitt´s Character is just the
opposite,
He´s the one
who´s lost
the meaning and
connection
with the sacredness
of existence
.

But the best features of the fore mentioned
interactions
was its take
on childhood
, and the
parents-children relationship
,
the collision of two worlds.
For the picture gets so powerfully
immersing
as the time of the
kid to protagonize
his version of 'what life is'

comes
, that by then we are taken back
into his feelings and anxieties
as equals
, as brothers.
This acknowledgement is in deed
the greatest vein of this narrative
,

the children seam to have been simply
parachuted
into existence and are
now having the toughest time
trying to absorb sense out of life

and understand why adults are so not like
themselves
. Is in this sense,
that Life is depicted as a cycle,
of beauty and Transformation,
illustrated by most of its footage, and
solidified by Brad Pitt´s character.


It´s important to note that it is not by accident
that the 1950´s of the narrative,
is depicted as the ideal
standard time of humanity
.
It´s a personal reference, since Malick himself
was at the best years of his childhood years then.

In sum Malick depicts the sensations
of a life time
, in his 2 hour film at the
best cinema is able to do it
. And for that alone,
this film deserves the best of
acknowledgements.


However it fails, miserably
in attempting to synthesize
all insinuations
and
sensorial associations
so
carefully crafted
, into what
turned out to be

a really poor metaphor
.
as if an art work depended on
a moral to conclude itself.

So What was in deed a beautiful

(and in spite of all pretensions)
, naive in
the best sense of the word,
revealed itself
to be a list of great
isolated elements
in a
mediocre recipe
.
As if Playing God wasn´t enough...



So "The Tree of Life", is overall
a majestic art piece of such
density
and depth but
that betrays
in a rude form
it´s own intellect and
pretensions
.
Only 'hanged together'

by that which it ultimately
denies
;
spontaneity and the
Rapture of emotional connections,

precisely the aspects of existence
that reason could never fairly describe,
nor contain in its logics
.


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