Terrence Malick’s impressionistic and autobiographical film, The Tree of Life, is a profound meditation on childhood, suffering, God and nature. Its philosophical and theological depth is matched only by its aesthetic beauty. The film’s depictions of the beginning of the universe and the genesis of life on earth are grand and sublime and bookend the quotidian exploration of childhood and family that make up the bulk of the story. The contrast between the cosmic and what it feels to be a child is one of the dichotomies that structure the film.
The film begins with a quote from the book of Job from the Old Testament. The book of Job is famous for its treatment of theodicy or the problem of evil and suffering in a world created by an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God. This concept becomes instantiated when Mrs. O’Brien is given the news of the death of her 19-year-old son. This brings about a crisis of faith in Mrs. O’Brien which she ultimately resolves by choosing the way of grace against the way of nature. The contrast between grace and nature is another duality that Malick explores.
The way of grace is the gentle appreciation of creation as God’s gift to all beings. It’s an orientation toward life that allows us to feel wonder and hope in the face of existence. The way of nature, on the other hand, is the disposition to see life as inherently violent, as red in tooth and claw. Every person must choose between these two options.
When we meet Jack as an adult, he too is struggling with his brother’s death and having a crisis of faith. As he remembers their childhood we see that the way of grace is represented by his mother and the way of nature by his father.
In Jack’s childhood memories, Mrs. O’Brien is presented as a mystical figure. Many of the shots of the mother are suffused with light, and have her moving, gracefully, through diaphanous and flowing fabrics. Her voice is gentle and her love all-encompassing. To Jack, she was the direct connection to the wonder of creation. At one point he states to God about her, “You spoke to me through her, the sky, the trees before I believed in you.” We see that, before any explicit religious belief, Jack worshipped creation as a divine femininity whose sacredness was immanent.
Jack’s embrace of his mother’s love as a child contrasts with what he perceives as the cruelty of his father. Where the mother was nurturing, playful and affectionate, scenes with the father feature the imposition of rules and his will. Mr. O’Brien asserted his dominance over his family and established a clear hierarchy with himself at the top. The fatherly authority of Mr. O’Brien is extended as a metaphor for humanity’s relationship to God the Father.
This is another central polarity in the film: the sacred immanence of creation in a matriarchal world and the transcendent authoritarianism of a patriarchal God.
As Jack grows up we see his struggle to reconcile both positions and the struggle of his father to exemplify the best of the authority archetype.
Mrs. O’Brien defined ‘the way of nature’ as the lording of one’s power over others, the embrace of selfish pride, and finding reasons to be unhappy in the face of grace. This definition describes perfectly Mr. O’Brien’s behavior toward his family in Jack’s youth.
Mr. O’Brien was a stern disciplinarian that ruled the domestic sphere with a heavy hand. We see him establish boundaries (he tells Jack to not cross the imaginary line dividing theirs and the neighbor’s yard), demand to be called ‘sir’ during all interactions with his sons, and set petty and arbitrary punishments for youthful mistakes, like the time he commanded Jack to close their door 50 times quietly.
In the public sphere, Mr. O’Brien is a failed entrepreneur working a soul-stultifying job as an engineer. He desperately wants to escape his 9 to 5 routine and gain financial independence but is unable to. He blames his failure on corrupt elites that monopolize wealth and power. His professional failings are compounded by his personal regret for not following his passion and becoming a classical musician. His family suffer the consequences of his worldly frustrations and impotent rage.
In his old age, Mr. O’Brien acknowledges the error of his ways — the ways of nature. He sees that he let his worldly obsessions get in the way of the deeper mission to guide and love his sons. In a moment of newfound humility, Mr. O’Brien admits to Jack that he erred in wanting to be loved because he was great. This made him foolishly dishonor the glory of creation and lose focus on love, which is the only way to be happy.
The external reconciliation of Jack and his father mirrors a deeper reconciliation within Mr. O’Brien. He realizes that a domineering paternal love needs to be balanced with a nurturing and compassionate maternal love.
This is what The Tree of Life is ultimately about: learning to harmonize all of the constituent paradoxes of creation and accepting that we have a creator whose ways are ineffable but always good.
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