Grace and Nature

The Tree of Life was one of those films that I had difficulty wrapping my head around. I was completely fine until the dinosaurs appeared, and I kept asking myself "what the hell is going on" until the main storyline came back. After thinking about it and letting this particularly strange part of the movie settle in my mind for a little while, I actually think it's one of the most important parts. The director wanted to audience to realize that we are all part of the creation story, and that the struggle between grace and nature happens inside all of us.

Nature versus grace was a main point in the story, with Mrs. O'Brien saying at the beginning of the movie "The nuns taught us there are two ways of life - the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one to follow". To me it seemed like Mr. O'Brien represented the way of nature,  and his wife represented the way of grace. You can definitely see this distinction through how they treat their sons. They take completely different approaches. Mr. O'Brien uses discipline to teach his sons (especially with Jack) lessons that he thinks they need to learn. Mrs. O'Brien's approach comes majorly comes through in the scene where Mr. O'Brien has to go away on business. She is more forgiving and thinks that love and being gentle and nurturing is more powerful than being authoritative and strict.

Film as Midrash

Film as Midrash

February 19, 2016

Class Film

Krzysztof Kieslowski’s use of film as Midrash is an artistic attempt to convey meaning and create unity. The paradox of film as midrash is that it seeks to reveal what is ultimate in context of the common. The two are not as far apart as we often imagine. After all, if something is to be objectively applicable to human experience, it must be universally common to all. Kieslowski’s films are highly relatable because they depict very fundamental aspects of human existence. In the Decalogue, life is shown in a very real, mundane manner. Such plainness naturally provoked me to project myself onto each circumstance in the film without consciously realizing I had done so. The curiosity of Pavel resonated with me. He asked the very questions one would expect a bright child to ask. His death at the end was shocking. I felt as if I had been thrown into the grief and tragedy of the situation myself. I have always found visual portrayals of death and grief to have an incredibly sobering effect on me. Such an experience calls us to account before the ultimate questions of life. In the face of death, we long for an answer. Midrash is the hermeneutic that explores the contemplates the depth of meaning for a certain situation. Each of the ten commandments deals with a core issue of life. These are things that everyone, in all cultures encounter. The universally shared nature of such experiences undergirds the strength and power of the visual. 

Midrash

In the first film, the first Commandment is depicted as the father holds his computer as his most prized possession. He relies on the information and calculations that he computes to direct his life. The computer is depicted as a powerful symbol of contrast to the blind faith that the boy's aunt has for her Roman Catholic faith. There is no definite answer with God, but even the definite answer given by the computer happens to be incorrect and costs the father his son's life. In the beginning of the film, the boy finds a dead dog and becomes emotional while explaining what he saw to his father. The father explains, without emotion, that death is an anatomical occurrence in which the heart stops beating. The emotion and blinding faith that the boy has is juxtaposed by the father's very calculated and practical outlook on life events. The father teaches his son how to rely on calculations and naturally, the boy becomes interested in his father's passion. The aunt, however, introduces her nephew to the idea of faith. There is a man sitting by a fire throughout the film with no explanation and no dialogue. From what I gathered, this man is symbolic of God. While everyone is trying to find reason in tragedy or reason in any circumstance, sometimes there is none. The man is watching and waiting throughout the whole film, until the point where the son dies. I thought the placement of this mysterious man made the film the most interesting. 

The second film addressed the fifth Commandment, thou shall not kill. The main character is portrayed at first as a criminal, however later in the film exposes the tragedy in his past which evokes empathy and pity for him. While the murder that he commits is brutal, he seems to second guess himself throughout the scene and appears to be in a miserable state. The only time he smiles is while he is in a cafe and he sees two young girls who, we later learn, may have reminded him of his sister who passed away. The making of the film is interesting because the main character is portrayed as a mischievous boy, while the man he ends up killing is first portrayed as a creepy and perverted man. It is interesting because the audience is challenged with empathizing with a murderer or seeking justice for a sinful man. At the end, the boy is sentenced to death, but killed in an inhumane manner. The institutional death is very similar to the murder as both are drawn out including a struggle from the victim. There is also symbolism in the rope, as the boy murders with a rope and ends up being hung as a death penalty. Once again, there are average and human depictions of God, as a janitor and a road worker. God is present but not directly involved in the deaths. 

Film as Midrash - Decalogue 1 and 5

Midrash is a type of interpretation or the perspective with which someone views the world. In the Decalogue films Midrash is displayed through two main characters. In the first film it is displayed through the father, the father is a scientific man, a man who is interested in figuring out how the world works. The father is caught up in technology and sees the world from the view of a man who needs proof before he believes. This view from the father comes back to haunt him when he does the calculations on the strength of the ice on the lake. He does this and even tests the ice himself, to know that his son could skate on the lake. The father trusts in science and calculations, not in God or the faith he has now lost or at least fallen away from. We know he has fallen away because his sister explains it to his son, we know he grew up Catholic and is not a non-believer, but is big on measurements and needs a certain bit of proof to believe or understand something. In the other Decalogue movie we watched, number five, the idea of perspective comes in a few subtle ways. The character we follow is the killer, Jacek. Jacek is seen differently by different people, by the little girls at the coffee shop he is viewed as funny, kind man. The man who he kills, he is viewed as crazy person and killer. The lawyer who represents him he is viewed as a young man who is sorry for his actions and deserves to live(in prison, but still live). Jacek also views other things in his own way, when passing that man in the middle of the road while he is in the taxi, he feels guilt knowing what he is about to do and proceeds to hide his head in the shadow. This is done as if the man will then not see him. Also Jacek moves behind the taxi driver and is seen at different angle, this is to get an angle to strangle the man but Jacek is also at a different view point of the driver then. Jacek goes through a couple vantage points when killing the taxi driver as well, the driver door, down by the lake, then covering the man's head. The idea of Midrash is displayed by these characters in that they themselves view the world in a certain way and the world views them in a certain way as well.

The Tree of Life

The film The Tree of Life used interwoven timelines to create a unique sensory experience. The cinematography and the use of only natural light gave a true feeling to the film, which made the holy and natural worlds collide through visuals. Beauty and grace were the light shining through the movie while the undertones of savage mortality let the viewer accept the anxiety that comes with individual corruption. While I enjoyed the message and looks of the film the direction was somewhat lacking. I believe this story could have benefited from a more linear timeline. I understand the artistic aspect and appreciate the type of movie it was, but a story like this should be shared with the masses and I don't believe that many people would truly enjoy this film.

This film had many disturbing scenes that made it hard to watch, however the light of grace shown through in times of need. The attention to the duality of reality in this movie helps a viewer by letting them ask questions that many other films do not. Its deep religious undertones takes morality and humanity as its target in The Tree of Life.  

Tree of life - nature v. grace

In Tree of life, the character I believed was the best transformation from nature to grace was the father played by Brad Pitt. The Father is serious person who takes teaching his kids about the world they live very, almost too, seriously. The father is a man who seems to be a little upset on how things turned out for him. He wants his kids to follow their dreams because he did not follow his. Through this anger of not reaching his dream of being a musician the father seems to take out anger on his family, in a relatively abusive manner. This idea of nature is shown through the fathers actions towards his kids and wife, as well as interactions with other members of the community. The father tries his best to save the boy who drowns at the river but cannot. The scene of the family leaving the funeral shows the father trying to get his kids to the car, it is as if he wants to console his family but cannot. The turn from nature to grace comes at the end of the movie, when you hear the father talking in the background, he mentioned that he was worth nothing and that he had "dishonored it all" because he did not know it was the Glory[of God]. He talks to his son about how he is not perfect as well. This scene is a big moment of change in the film for the father because before this he was very aggressive. Then after his son is acting out for awhile he comes to a place where he wants reconciliation and forgiveness for his actions, not just towards his son it appears, but for his whole life.

Film as Midrash - Dusty Nelson

Midrash is meant to bring out questions.  It brings out the meaning of scripture, however the meaning is personal for the receiver.  Decalogue I, centers around the relationship between a father and son.  The father, a man who is inclined to learn about the world through math, or anything that can be measured is shattered by the death of his son after he falls through the ice skating.  My personal feelings about the meaning of the movie were that of heartache for the dad.  It seemed that the movie was trying to inform us that regardless of how to want to deal with it, there is always an element of the unknown.  Some higher power that we can't ever know.  The father acknowledges this when his son asks him what death is.  He says, "Me personally, I don't know".  Even a person who believes in the ability to know things acknowledges that he doesn't know everything.  However I'm not sure how faith would make something like the death of your child any easier to bear, or why it would bring you closer to a personal God.  I don't think this film is trying to inject a position either way.  I think it is a beautiful representation of a simple idea.  In this way it must be personal.  A universal truth that no one fully understands must be reckoned with personally.