“Where were you when I laid the earth\u2019s foundation…while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”<\/p>\n
Terrence Malick<\/a> is an interesting story in himself.\u00a0 He graduated with honers from Harvard (philosophy); went on to Oxford where he got within a hair of his doctorate but had a pissing contest with his adviser over some abstract concept in his doctoral thesis and said,”Fuck it, I’m out.”\u00a0 He wound up back in America teaching philosophy at M.I.T. and writing articles as a freelance journalist.<\/p>\n He came to the film industry as a writer(he wrote the original draft of Dirty Harry<\/em>), and eventually a director.\u00a0 He directed 2 films I haven’t seen (Badlands, Days of Heaven<\/em>) which were rumored to be troubled productions, but were very successful.\u00a0 Terrance then dropped off the face of the earth.<\/p>\n I came across him the same time everyone else did.\u00a0 In 1998, 20 years since his last film, he directed The Thin Red Line<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Thin Red Line<\/em> was a haunting film about the pacific theater of WW2.\u00a0 It depicts the horror and beauty of battle the way Kubrick wishes Full Metal Jacket<\/em> did.\u00a0 And it also suggests another world, just beyond our own.\u00a0 The music is amazing.<\/p>\n He then disappeared for a shorter interval and came out with The New World<\/em>; a film about the founding of Jamestown and the English and Native Americans coming together.\u00a0 They are both friends and enemies of each other and themselves.\u00a0 Neither can survive in the other’s world unchanged.<\/p>\n And today, I saw the film he was rumored to be working on when he disappeared the first time, Tree of Life<\/em>.\u00a0 I can see why he may have needed some time off.\u00a0 This was one acid trip of a movie.\u00a0 In exploring the nature of life, Terrance traces life’s primordial origins all the way through time to a family in Texas.\u00a0 And I do mean origins; beginning at the big bang.<\/p>\n The movie is non-linear.\u00a0 It jumps through time as it considers the nature of life, the usefulness of love, and the utility of aggression.\u00a0 A good portion of screen time is dedicated to the Texas family.\u00a0 Brad Pitt is a brilliant man trapped in industry, and he attempts to raise his 3 sons to be without weakness.\u00a0 His wife Jessica Chastain is the film’s embodiment of grace; she teaches her sons to love unconditionally.\u00a0 The two forces are at war in the boys; and their parents are the necessary hero and villain.\u00a0 The hero is necessary to protect the children from the aggression of nature enough so they can experience wonder and love.\u00a0 The villain is necessary to provide constraint to struggle against and thus prepare one to struggle.<\/p>\n While the family’s journey is poignant, I found the prehistoric scenes to be the best in the film.\u00a0 There is moment, in pre-history in which we see the invention of love, or at least the seeds of it.\u00a0 A dinosaur lies injured next to a river, from the jungle another (different species) jumps out and steps on the first ones neck and prepares to kill it.\u00a0 The standing animal looks down at the first, and decides not to kill it and moves away.\u00a0 The prone beast, not as injured as it had let on, considers killing the other while his back is turned.\u00a0 He does not.\u00a0 Both live.<\/p>\n If you’re not in a thoughtful mood, don’t watch this movie.\u00a0 If you found 2001: A Space Odessy<\/em> ponderous, this probably isn’t for you.\u00a0 It’s a quiet, thoughtful, intense, and powerful film.\u00a0 If you have siblings you will not escape without tearing up.\u00a0 8.5 of 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Where were you when I laid the earth\u2019s foundation…while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Terrence Malick is an interesting story in himself.\u00a0 He graduated with honers from Harvard (philosophy); went on … Continue reading