Directed by Terrence Malick, 2011
In the opening scene of this film, mother tells us there are two ways through life: the way of nature and the way of grace. Grace though is a word of many meanings: Decency, elegance, beauty, a prayer. In the sense of this last meaning, the film is narrated in the form of a whispering prayer to goodness. That nature is abundantly filled with grace is illustrated by Mr Malick's breathtaking shots over volcanoes, in the sea, the desert, and outer space (magnificently shot through a telescope), representing the four elements, each of which is crucial for most, if not all forms of life.
A life that is controlled by our constant struggle for dominance and control (father) on the one hand, love and surrender (mother) on the other. Not only in the natural world (see slightly bizarre dinosaur scene) but also in what we call civilization, or society. Not even at first glance is this solely a drama about a family losing one of its three sons. Nor is it an autobiographical reckoning. What Mr Malick has attempted is to demonstrate, to toy with the discrepancies and irreconcilable opposing forces that make up life: the human ability to love and hate the very same person at the same time, the constant interdependence of life and death (without the other, each is nothing), remembrance and forgetting, ugliness and beauty and creation's vain attempts to overcome nature.
I don't (yet) believe there is one correct way to interpret this film (though I'd be interested to hear it). You may take from it what you want, or need. Maybe you'll fall asleep halfway through. Maybe it will not raise questions or give answers in the way you were hoping. Maybe you will find it long, boring, pretentious and exuberant. The good news is: there's only one way to find out.
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