There’s something tremendous about experiencing a great artist swinging for the fences – even if such a gesture doesn’t result in an inarguable triumph. While some might bristle at the prospect of a mid-century, middle-American family bearing the weight of the cosmos, the representation of ordinary domestic dramas unburdened by the usual tiresome ideological critiques or sentimental valorizations is a blessed relief. To suggest that the film offers a simple-minded cosmology of “nature vs. grace” is to overlook the carefully structured narrational framework: Malick is not advancing a Christian worldview here, but instead filters The Tree of Life’s action through the consciousness of characters who are devout and/or struggling to contend with this simplistic polarity. It is an extraordinary humanist riposte to 2001: A Space Odyssey in which Malick movingly hypothesizes that human evolution might be driven by a yearning towards transcendence rather than the brute assertion of will.
Rating: * * * * *
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