Chinese name: Tree of Life

Foreign name: Tree of Life

Directed by Terrence Malick

Starring: Brad Pitt/Sean Penn/Jessica Chastain

Movie plot

The main character of the film is an 11-year-old Midwestern teenager named Jack。He is one of three children in his family。At first, everything in the world was a surprise to him。He does what his mind and heart tell him to do。His mother taught him to face the world with love and kindness;But his father told him that in order to get on in this world, he must put himself first。Both his father and mother want Jack to obey them, and Jack, who is in contradiction, can only adjust these two contradictory thoughts by his own strength。After witnessing starvation, illness, and death, Jack is traumatized and begins to lose himself。And the things in this world that were once pleasant and exhilarating began to become elusive。

　　Jack's adult life was not very good。He has lost his soul and is crawling around like a headless chicken in contemporary society。He hopes to change the face of society and the minds of others, but in the end it is all a dream。He finally understood that the reason society cannot be changed is that we are all part of it。As a result, Jack began to look at society in a different way。From a new perspective, society is full of wonders, treasures, and things that are unique。Jack is ready to forgive his father and begin a new journey in his life。

　　At the end of the story, Jack finally understands the true meaning of life. He understands love, beauty, goodness and truth。Jack eventually discovers that the starting point for his cognition is his family, his first and most important school。In the family, he learned the truth about the world, the origin of self-consciousness, and how to love the world

Film evaluation

Terrence Malick's film "The Tree of Life" is a very interesting piece of work。To say that it is funny is not to say that the film has comedic elements, but that it is difficult to judge by a simple benchmark。The 139-minute film, which mixes the birth of the universe, dinosaurs, a family of five in a small Texas town and speculation about the end of life, has both stunning storytelling and unbelievably contriving moments.Some parts deserve five stars, while others don't even deserve one。Overall, I gave three stars in the middle, but this does not represent a fair evaluation - in any case, "The Tree of Life" is not a mediocre work, just like the broad subject matter it contains, its perception also crosses the poles of the benchmark, the average can not explain any problem。

　　

　　But relatively objective benchmarks are not absent。Whether in terms of theme or expression, The Tree of Life has a sense of continuity with the Greek film master An Zhe's Mia aioniotita kai mia mera (Eternity and a Day)。Both films jump through more than one space and time, both adopt poetic expression techniques, and both give the highest serious consideration to the ultimate question of the meaning of life。The difference is that An Zhe's works are plain and unadorned, with emotions gushing from the plain details;Malick is a bit more uncertain, more like an experimental film visual language exploration, there are successes, there are failures。

　　

　　The success is mainly concentrated on the description of the growing process of the family of five. The cutting of this part is extremely smooth, and the extensive use of poetic jumps makes the narrative itself completely take a back seat, and each picture highlights the details of the memory。Such a stream of consciousness splicing technique is fully consistent with the characteristics of the details of the memory, while the visual jump highlights the instant beauty of the picture, and a large number of small white Spaces mobilize the audience's participation。The growth of the three brothers, the complex feelings of the eldest Jack for his father and the dynamic development of the parental relationship are full of fresh texture, and this part of the shooting is sincere and touching。

　　

　　However, I think the biggest success of the film is the attempt to integrate a micro family world with the largest macro world of the universe, in which the contradiction between father and son and the dialogue between man and God throughout the beginning and end echo each other, with the inherent beauty of symmetry in structure。As for the interweaving of the micro world and the macro world, Malick's perspective is quite unexpected。He spent nearly half an hour showing Hubble's observations of beautiful nebulae, stars, volcanic eruptions, ocean tides, the birth of life, and even arranged a mysterious and somewhat humorous dinosaur segment。All these "digressions" that completely deviate from the main narrative line do not rely on interspersing in the narrative process to supplement the narrative, but are self-contained, and the audience is not aware of the situation before the narrative has begun, resulting in double astonishment on visual and psychological feelings。For the audience，Whether this arrangement is an emotional boost or an annoying distraction，I'm afraid one man has one opinion;But there is no denying that such a bold attempt is new and groundbreaking，It unquestionably links the different dimensions of the world together，Together with the dream-talking voiceover, the grand theme of "the meaning of life" is introduced。

　　

　　If Malick's development of cinematic linguistic forms had been at this slightly more aggressive level, The Tree of Life might have been a successful experiment。But unfortunately, reserve is not Malick's strong point。He cut into a variety of gorgeous intention pictures again and again, a variety of visual metaphors, representations, voice-over narration emerged endlessly, and after a series of information bombardment still refused to stop, must let the adult Jack in the consciousness space with his childhood, with his parents and brothers again。The reunion will be enough, but also must pass the sea, the valley, the door, the stars, the dance in the sun and so on again and again the theme of the roll call, and even must say the conclusion of "love" to cover the conclusion, must leave the adult Jack's smile as a happy ending。The figure of the director in this part can be said to be everywhere, and the long-worded noise of his voice does not leave any space for the audience to think independently, which forms a sharp contrast with the ease of the previous narrative part。

　　

　　If we compare An Zhe's use of poetic language in Eternity and a Day, we will find that poetic expression is not only a means of frequent jumps of intention。One of the most impressive details in "Eternity and a Day" is that the poet Alexander has to go to the housekeeper's daughter's wedding to look after his dog because he has to be hospitalized。Halfway through the wedding，The bride and groom are dancing，No language，No Shouting and drinking，No fancy editing，There is no insertion of imagery，There's no voiceover or the emotional touch of the original vocal，In the wind and the simple notes of the accordion，Two people walking on small steps to rotate, stare, rotate，It's a beautiful visual poem。Not only this fragment, but the overall form and technique of "Eternity and a Day" are extremely simple, from beginning to end around Alexander's hospitalization, the homeless child and the poet's memory。What is rich is the detail involved in these simple events，It's the dimension of the old Alexander's mind，The details jump with memories，Together they form a kind of emotional nostalgia，In other words，This search for the meaning of belonging to life and death is not a one-way street，It is not so simple as man's inquiry to God;Except for the confusion of the unknown，It's more of a reflection on what we already know，It's about the passage of time，The infinite joy of spiritual collision，It is the melancholy of the soul hovering on the edge of life。And poetry is produced in such wandering, in the blend and confrontation of pain and desire。This is a deeper kind of poetry, which is not restricted by the form of language, but only becomes more valuable because of its simplicity。

　　

　　opposite，The expression of the Tree of Life is more formal poetry - repeated stacking of images, dazzling cutting, complex and rich visual elements;And as the core of the content that underpins it all，Questions about the meaning of life，It is relatively weak because of the unidirectional concentration of details，In particular, the straightforward sermon at the end falls on the nest。I think that's where most people draw the line between being honest and being pretentious。The breakthrough of film form is important, but the form ultimately needs to match the depth of thought。If not, it is no wonder that the audience does not give face, even the golden Palm can not convince the theater of the repeated laughter。