tree of life

When I found out we were watching the tree of life I was very disappointed. I had watched the movie in theaters with high hopes but felt bored and confused through the whole movie. However, now that I am at a stage in my life where I feel I can reflect on my childhood from a distance, I feel differently about the movie. Still, I had trouble wrapping my head around some of metaphors and messages the movie conveys in an EXTREMELY artistic way. Nature vs. Grace is a very important theme in this movie with the father representing nature and the mother representing grace. She is loving and forgiving while the father is more pragmatic and cold saying that being nice will get his boys no where. When the movie got to the plot it shows Jack growing up and at times losing innocence. He will do cruel or lustful acts of nature. For example killing a dog and stealing the neighbors underwear. His mother consoles him and tries to show him in a loving way that is wrong, being the force of Grace against his acts of nature. Throughout the story of Jack's childhood, we get to see his little brother and the interactions he has with him. The movie shows Jack and his family mourning the death of his little brother the moment it happened and years later. This tests the mothers religion, when being consoled by her friend saying "hes in gods hands now"she thinks to herself "wasn't he in gods hands the whole time?" The end of the movie shows her letting go of him and telling god to take her son in a beautiful scene on the beach where she raises towards the sky in all white sheets and lets her hands go. So even in her sons death, she handles nature (her sons young death) with grace.