A 'Tree' that branches out through millions of years on Earth

Life is a mystery with many secrets that it doesn't reveal too easily. With whatever questions we have concerning our existence, there are just as many answers. There isn't a straightforward response; so like a good story, life is open to interpretation. With everything that goes on through nature, time and space, we are encouraged to ask what it all means to us. In the long run, it's our job to choose a path on how to live and to follow it to our destination. In Terrence Malick's unique and puzzling odyssey, The Tree of Life, he takes us on a journey of discovery that begs the audience to ponder upon what it means to be human and have the chance to experience the world.

Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt) is a father who rules his family with an iron fist in a 1950s Midwestern household. His main priority is to teach his three sons that they need to be tough in order to get ahead in the world, while their mother (Jessica Chastain) wants them to go through life appreciating the beauty that's around them. Their older son Jack (Hunter McCracken) begins to rebel against his father, wanting to live the way that he prefers, instead of always doing what his father wishes. This all leads to Jack on a course to question and find the purpose for his existence. The story jumps back and forth from this time period to the present day where an older Jack (Sean Penn) is still trying to come to terms with his life.

Brad Pitt gives a performance of domineering force. He displays a different side of himself in this role that I don't ever recall seeing before. His character is hateful through much of the film, and yet, we understand that he wants the best for his sons, even if it means pushing his Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest methods on them. He is a parent and a life coach. As a father, he shows signs of love and tough love. Pitt has moments of tender emotion with his wife and children, but isn't afraid to remind them who is boss when he has his fits of anger. His character speaks most of the film's dialogue, which assists in highlighting the power that the father holds over the family.

Jessica Chastain is the loving and compassionate mother that anyone would be fortunate to have. Chastain's character understands the situation that her sons are in, and suffers along with them. She is a wife that obeys her husband and his ways, but isn't afraid to let her children run wild and have fun as their father is away on a business trip. Letting her sons have those experiences and explorations is important to her, and is what any mother would want for her young ones.

Although Chastain and other characters aren't given much to say, that doesn't mean that we don't know what's going on in their heads. The mother expertly conveys the feelings she has when showing a look of adoration or disappointment in her children. The younger Jack and his brothers go through their boyhood with laughs and cries, expressing their thoughts with minimal use of actual words. Sean Penn, as the older Jack, has piercing anguish in his eyes as he attempts to decipher the reasons for his being. Penn doesn't appear in the film too often; but the story let's us spend enough time with his younger self, and therefore, we already know a lot about him in the few scenes with his older self.

The screenplay, also by Malick, doesn't just concern the family. Using richly beautiful images, it details the creation and end of life, and covers much ground from the untamed nature to the infinite cosmos. All of this makes the meaning of the movie so much stronger and mysterious, and shows that we are a part of something a lot bigger than ourselves. It helps that it's accompanied with a triumphant score by film composer Alexandre Desplat. The sequence that plays out the beginning of life is quite lengthy; and while it's remarkable to watch, it sometimes implicates that it's trying to be this generation's version of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which itself had a portion that was dedicated to the B.C. era of time.

Malick took a risk in crafting a narrative that's very different from what we've seen in the past few years. It's an experience that will be enlightening for some, baffling for others, or a little bit of both for some people. The film presents a worthwhile challenge to the audience, having them piece the story together in order to try to make as much sense of it as they can. No matter how you interpret the story, there will still be something mystifying about it, just like life itself.

Final grade: A-