Tree of Life : Cinema Exists
"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", says Mrs.O'Brien's voice-over, which arise a lot in the film to help unfold the story of each character and the thoughts in their mind. This first line seems to form in ways the crux of the film, in terms of what it tries to say and what the film embodies be it in its aesthetics or technical beauty.
Terrence Mallick's impressionistic film speaks for his view of cinema and the arts at many levels. Right from the beginning of the film with an ethereal glow of lights that emerges on the screen, you prepare yourself for what is an absolute and wonderful work of ART on 75mm. Pitched to be a story of the loss of innocence of a boy and his growing up days, which it certainly is, the way Mallick deals with this is unlike any other we usually come across even in the festival circuit films. Crossing over between time periods with the characters, from the present to the past to the pre-historic periods and even to the very beginning of the universe, Mallick through his characters creates a complete mood, an atmosphere where you open your mind to the very existential questions.
To create this certain air of wonder and profound thought, imagery is key. Emmanuel Lubezki's work in the Tree Of Life does exactly that, the cinematography is incredibly admirable almost at every frame at every second of this 2hrs19mins work of art. The beauty in the cinematography lies in the fact that rather than being the medium to tell the story it is part of the story, a sort of omni-presence remains. The scenes where Mrs.O'Brien walks through the woods, where a particular shot of the mammoth trees climbing and rising in from the earthy shades of brown to the almost heavenly white of the sky, beauty stares back at you in that and many other frames. Time and time again you come across moments where you recognize small but significant fascination and grace in the movements of the camera. Falling in love with this film just for its cinematography is all but natural.
Where the combined minds of Mallick and Lubezki particulary are haunting in a graceful way are the scenes where you find Jessica Chastain as Mrs.O'Brien. Perhaps one of the most beautiful characters on screen, inside-out. Her performance in the film is so filled with absolute grace and loveliness, she in essence captures the way of life through 'grace'. And does this simply by gentle gestures of the eyes and elegant movement of body on the screen, adroite. Jessica Chastain's performance in the film is a sure stand-out for simple, skillfull and clean flamboyant spirit of love, fun and simplicity which she embodies. Complementing which is Brad Pitt's role as Mr.O'Brien, a straight-forward and rather unlikeable father of the 50's. A man who loves his wife and sons, latent with that love in him, suffers to show it out and bring it out in the right way. Minimalist performances of the boys too play out really well in the film, helping in great deal with the naturalism of the piece.
The Tree Of Life also deals with grief and loss and reconciling oursleves to move on and to accept unfavourable changes. And when in the seemingly incurable depths of loss we find ourselves lost in questions,doubts and in a myriad world that seem lost of explanation and reason. Sean Penn's character as Jack O'Brien the eldest son plays out this role of trying to understand and conceive this world. Scenes where he walks through a urban landscape with questions in his mind coming over to us as voice-overs superbly express Jack's incapabiltity but the concurrent need to settle the troubles of his past. Sean Penn's performance is very modest nothing of what the awards-darling that we usually enjoy, but probably because the script demanded so.
Last but not the least, the background score by Alexandre Desplat converges beautifully with fabric of the film. Subtle and clear, the score compliments in augmenting the viewers mind in understanding of the emotions,thoughts and spaces we see on screen. What is definitely worth mentioning is the location where the film is shot. The trees around the O'Brien house give an almost magnanimous feel, with wind blowing softly against them.
The set and costumes play a great role in transporting the audience to the 50's which is done beautifully, the colors on screen are pleasing and lively.
Minimal dialogues remain and silence of speech dominates, but the few that are uttered remain strong clear and echoes in ur mind. "It takes fierce will to get ahead in this world."
"The only way to be happy is to love. Unless you love, your life will flash by". The dialogues were presumably written with good measure, but delivered with such grace.
At all levels, every aspect of film-making comes together, unites and aligns beautifully to beget this truly brilliant work of cinema.
Disappointments do creep up once in a while, time suddenly seems to have taken a break or rather turned into a drag. Blank stares on a few occassions. But the eerie beauty engulfs it. For those who wanna complain about the film, they truly can. Lovers of the film can also understand the hate for this film, it definitely isnt for everyone.
In the end, cinema is fundamentally a visual medium, the aim is to tell a story or thought or idea visually. The cinema of the greats from Hitchcock to Tarkovsky and to one of my all time favourites Wong-Kar Wai all stand strong and invincible because of the ingenious understanding and deft brilliance in weaving together the entities of the story with visual style. In other words, rather than letting the story be just a thought imparting wonderful language into the story brings the audience in not just to the thought but to the entirety of the thought and absorbing them into the stream of thought. Terrence Mallick and team has done just that. Possibly one of the most significant films of our times and years to come.
By the end of the film, leaving the hall with a unique cinematic experience what striked me was a facebook status of my friends' , "Cinema Exists". Truly does my friends, it truly does. This film is a symphony.
“A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.” – Mahler
