Musings: Tree of Life (2011)

***SPOILER ALERT***

Tree of Life got the Palm d'Or award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Finally, as majestic and bewildering as its trailer seems to boasts, Terrence Malick's Tree of Life is here. 


I am left speechless, honestly. I'm still trying my best to drive my train of thought.


As I've said, many times before, I would not even begin - not even dare- try to review Tree of Life. I'd like to believe that I simply cannot bring justice to the film in my endeavor to write a review about it. It's that admission and realization that when you think you have already figured it out, certain questions comes into mind- questions that are left unanswered, questions that make you ask yourself if they are, in the first place, needed to be answered by the film. It can leave you with lingering doubts or sheer uncertainty; it can be too perplexing. But that is, I must say, part of its beauty and charm- something that is beyond our explanation, utterly far from our grasp and certainty, but one that is immaculately familiar: life.


And like life itself, it is definitely beautifully complicated. 


Admittedly, I've only seen the film once and I hope it won't stop there. There's just too many and too much of its frontier yet to be explored, like a literary masterpiece so enigmatic that it deserves another chance to be experienced. But unlike any other puzzling work, which meaning and interpretation is easily deciphered, Tree of Life does not give away a response that is direct and specific. Hence, it will be a film that will be discussed and debated throughout the years.


But even if it is generally viewed as something ambiguous, with the film being lyrical and free of a plot, one thing is evident: the film is simply a spectacular visual poetry. It's grandiose depiction of the world's creations: the lovely and glorious Milky Way, the intense and blazing creation of the earth, the lush and verdant unexplored wilderness, and the refreshing and  relaxing calmness of the oceans, among many others, are gloriously magnificent. Really, anyone who claims that he has seen nature at its best form should see these.


Sharing the limelight with nature is the story of a fanciful mother (Jessica Chastain), a formidable but loving father (Brad Pitt) and their three young boys, one of whom is Jack (Hunter McCracken). It seems like an ordinary family represented onscreen, all of whom are characters who are vulnerable of mundane themes like envy, doubt, sin, or desperation. Meanwhile, as the story progresses, a confused and grown-up Jack (Sean Penn) is introduced, as he lives a life of unanswered queries and numerous regrets amidst his corporate success. But the story line is somewhat vague, or specifically fragmented, that some (those that I know, myself included) have admitted that they had quite a trouble in identifying which of the three boys is depicted by Penn. Towards the film's ending, Penn's character has found what is said to be the summit of life in an almost 15-minute divinely-captured, mind-blowing imagery, along with intellectual, or even philosophical whispery voice-overs and striking classical symphony.


Juxtaposing this everyday, commonplace life with the illustration of the so-called Creation, the dichotomy arises: inter-cutting the intimate scenes with anything that is utterly flamboyant. Apparently, it's that tangent between the simple and the labyrinthine that confronts us of how life was, of how life is, as interpreted and represented by the writer and director of the film itself.

Recalling the experience is just as chilling as seeing it for the first time, if not even more. Astonishing would be a slight understatement; breathtaking would perhaps encompass the experience. Yes. It's not just a film, as I've been told and had read time and again, it's an experience. And what an experience it was. After watching it, my friends and I were so eager to discuss it, we've actually lingered in the theater for a 'brief' exchange of musings, as if there's not tomorrow. Each of us has something to say, something to share but it was a unanimous decision that Tree of Life deserves to be seen again, and we don't mean just once.


At that moment, I was standing there, listening to them, perhaps a bit speechless, but all the while amused with my thoughts as to how a film can take over your life even for a moment, that seemingly fleeting moment. As much as we want to freeze the frame of that motion picture called life and stay in the moment, we must let go, we must move on and journey forward to life, and even to the Great Beyond. Who knows?


But I am certain about one thing: it's the enchanting magic and power of a movie, may be not only that, but that cinematic experience that can transcend a moment in our life- one that is so intense and profound- it can transport us into sheer emotional and spiritual cathartic elation. 




-fmr2011





I'd also like to share a comment about Tree of Life, from Mr. Roy C. Iglesias, my professor in film writing, who is also a notable screenwriter in the Philippines:

"It's not only a movie. It's an experience, a journey for us viewers through the power of imagery. It's plotless but it's not meant to tell a story but to make us rediscover the rich feelings of awe, wonder, hopelessness and loss through visual poetry."