Round 2 with The Tree of Life

Tonight marked my second viewing of The Tree of Life. The first time I watched it was with my parents. I decided way back in 9th grade that I would make it a point to see every film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar before the actual Academy Awards (it's always a fun challenge) and last year this was on the list. So a week before the Oscars last year, I sat my parents down on a Friday night and invited them to watch this movie with me (It was the last one I needed). They only agreed after seeing that Brad Pitt was in it, because as my mom said, "Anything Brad Pitt is in must be great."

My parents hated it. My mom stopped watching about an hour into it because she "hates when I make her watch artsy films that make no sense and have no story." My dad lasted the entire film, but I think he only kept watching with the die hard desire for there to be some kind of twist at the end where the entire thing suddenly made sense. When it was over he just kind of went to bed in a state of confusion without saying anything.

I, however, didn't necessarily hate it. I thought it was beautiful. It absolutely blew my mind. Between the incredible score and the amazing visuals, it was, like Leeper said, like watching a two and a half hour painting. I appreciated it for that one reason: that it was beautiful.

But I didn't understand anything. Granted, it was a Friday night at 8 o'clock when I turned it on, but regardless, I came away from that film awed by beauty but confused beyond anything. Of course, I never let my parents on to the fact that I didn't understand a damn thing, because I like to keep up this facade around them that I'm actually a cinema expert. But in reality... I didn't understand anything. Even countless hours of scrolling through The Tree of Life's IMDb page didn't help. Eventually, I decided I wasn't evolved enough to understand the film, and cast my vote for The Artist as last year's Best Picture winner.

Fast forward to tonight. It was interesting re-watching it. Definitely a lot less stressful the second time around. I'm not saying it still wasn't heavy, but at least this time I could focus more on the imagery because my brain had already accepted defeat and wasn't trying to piece anything together. It wasn't as overwhelming as the first time, but it still packed on quite a load. Again, I was blown away by how beautiful this film is. I noticed more things this time that were just beautiful.

But again I still feel as if I understand very little about this film. Maybe it's because, unlike a lot of people at this school, I do not know the Bible very well, and therefore the Book of Job is not something I'm familiar with. Obviously, because the entire film is kind of based on Job, that's why the film is so foreign for me. I did, however, agree with Leeper and Dawn that this is not necessarily a "Christian" film. In fact, I was kind of excited because everyone was talking about how The Tree of Life was showing Christian films in a new way and I just kept thinking, "I don't think Malick meant for this to be a Christian film." and then Leeper said that and I was like, "YEAH! I thought like him. I'm evolving."

Also, for some reason this scene has made me tear up both
times I've watched it. It breaks my heart.

I honestly have yet to really truly take anything away from this film that isn't awe with the beauty of it. In fact, I find it really amazing that some people can watch this and truly "get" what the director was trying to convey. I hope to one day be at that level of professionalism and understanding and knowledge to be able to watch a heavy film like this and digest it as something more than just "This is beautiful but I don't know why." Because I know that there is a reason this film is amazing, and I know that it's beautiful, but I can't seem to grasp why it is so.

All in all, I can't pretend that I enjoyed it 100% because it gets a little... tedious towards the middle. I didn't love it; I appreciated it, and I admired it, but I didn't love it because I have yet to understand it. I think this is one of those films that some people pretend to understand to try and look knowledgeable in what movies they watch, and I'm just comfortable admitting that I was confused for about 110% of the entire thing, both times I watched it.

But it's still a mind-blowingly beautiful movie.

- R.