The Tree of Life

Ashley Frost -- The Tree of Life

The film The Tree of Life was one of the most intriguing, confusing, and thought provoking films that I have ever seen.  I was anticipating the film to follow the O'Brien family as a "normal" film does... but it was anything but normal.  As I was watching it I tried to capture and understand every moment and detail that flashed across the screen, but I soon found this task to not only be tiresome, but worthless.  I had to force myself to sit back and absorb it all, without trying to make any connections or ideas of what the film was attempting to teach.  Instead, I then tried to just let it wash over me, and I told myself that I would think about it later!  I found this technique to be much more effective.

This film discusses, in a beautiful way, two different "paths" in life that we are able to take.  Either the path of Nature or of Grace.  Mr. O'Brien, the father, represents the way of Nature, and Mrs. O'Brien, the mother, represents the way of Grace.  The film explores both paths, and the implications and consequences that these two paths offer.

As I watched the film and later reflected upon it, I of course asked myself which path I am more drawn to, and I think that I am more drawn to the path of Grace.

The movie seemed to also ask the questions that we as humans tend to ask ourselves all of the time; such as what is the purpose of life?  Or why do bad things happen? The way in which this film was made led me to feel the insignificance of these questions in relation to God… who am I to ask these questions to the creator of the universe?  Who am I to question His goodness?  And yet when I feel this insignificance, it isn’t belittling.  If anything I felt comforted by it, and the fact that my life is held in the hands of a God who created everything.  The mother in the film also seemed to feel this way at the end, when she said “I give him to you”.  She gave up questioning God and gave up fighting Him, and instead she received peace when she did that.