The Tree of Life Review

This movie attempts not to answer but to address the big questions in life and does so in a very artistic way. What is the purpose of our existence?, what is life really about? Although the movie does not follow a linear story, one gets the sense that it is being told not merely just a story but the overall view of a person's life, its purpose, its meaning and the reason behind it all. One cannot help but project the same questions upon oneself, the people we encounter, the events that marked our life, the most important and influential people and of course the big questions about faith and finding meaning. Terrence Malick, the producer of The Tree of Life, is not interested in telling you much about the characters in the movie, or giving you a very defined plot at all- but instead exposes a canvas of art, where the title could be summed up to "life." As the story unfolds, one starts putting pieces together, but the great mystery remains in that for each one of the viewers these big questions of life are addressed and approach differently. One gets the sense that is really experiencing not just a story told  but truly the essence of what it is to be human, with all of our imperfections, questions, experiences, etc. We do not just follow a plot in the main character's life, but we seem to project his emotions, thoughts and questions upon our life. This movie breaks into well defined patterns of movie making, and I believe this is what makes the film exceptional. We do not experience a plot or a message being told or understood but rather we are exposed to "life" as it is, with more questions rather than answers, with all its beauty and roughness, with all its broken sequences, with only certain details we know of people or characters, and one by oneself- tries to put all pieces together. If you are looking for more than cars blowing, guns blazing, and robots transforming- hollywood offers you much more than that in these must see film.