Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is one of the more profound and moving films I’ve seen in years. It is a non-linear film that weaves moments of the life of the O’Brien family in the midst of images from the creation of the universe to the death of our sun and beyond. Much like music, its images and words are scored to stir deeply in ways I don’t completely understand. Critics who praised the film see it as a masterpiece about many things. For me, it is a work of art infused with faith, glory, truth and love.
The Tree of Life is both a visualization and personalization of Job’s story. It begins with a black screen and white words from Job 38: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” It confronts us with intense loss in the arbitrary brokenness of the world that intrudes on each of us. As the priest reminds us in the film, suffering and death come to the good and the evil. Mrs. O’Brien asks in the midst of profound loss, “Where were You?” Her question — our question — floats visually in the mind-boggling vastness of time and the beginnings of the universe.
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