Grace and The Tree of Life
I recently saw The Tree of Life written and directed by Terrance Malick.
It’s more impressionist painting than film, but I was completely taken with it. As I walked out of the theater, the usher could tell I was stunned. He told me people walk out of that movie either saying “it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen” or “I couldn’t stand it” and they leave early. I was in the first category.
More than anything, the opening line captures the heartbeat of the film:
“The nuns taught us there were two ways through life – the way of nature and the way of Grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow. Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things.”
The meaning of Grace is difficult to explain and often misunderstood. This maybe the best articulation to describe the indescribable.
3 Responses to “Grace and The Tree of Life
I, too, was in the first category. The film was Terry Gilliam meets Salvador Dali meets John Steinbeck. Malick perfectly captured how many Baby Boomers of today are being forced to honestly revisit their upbringing, and decide how it will influence the rest of their lives. A coming of age after having come of age; a mildly cautionary tale concerning the future of the family and the individual.
Best movie I have ever seen. Hands down. It made for truly sacred moments for most of the audience in the Michigan Theatre, Ann Arbor, from my perception. I can’t even describe to people what it was like as I walked away from the viewing that day, but this sounds very similar to my experience.
Sigh, BEAUTIFUL! That was exactly what I took out of it.
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