The story is simplicity itself, something that is perhaps obscured for some by the nonlinear approach. what appears to be its alien approach: Architect Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn) experiences the anniversary of his brother’s untimely death with considerable anguish and difficulty, as seen through a series of reveries that puts him in touch with memories that connect him to the origins of life itself even as he is drawn back to recalling specific episodes from the days of his uneasy childhood in 1950s Texas.His father (Brad Pitt) is a difficult man to love, as he is strict disciplinarian, demanding perfection in every task. Jack's mother (Jessica Chastain) is the parent he and his two brothers find much easier to adore, as she is nurturing, forgiving, and generous.
Young Jack (Hunter McCracken) is a boy we see growing to resent the treatment he receives from his father, even as he begins to suffer the consequences of it by becoming more and more like him every day. His father tells him “you can’t be too good” to succeed in the world, and as the boy appears to move towards embracing that advice against his own better judgment, he becomes still more aware of how the opposite nature of his mother continues to “wrestle inside” his heart.
Malick makes a concerted effort as the film unspools to break down some of the barriers of what we would normally think of as the natural progression of a story’s time line, so that towards the end of the film, past, present, and future all appear to be engaging one another in gestures of deep recognition and awareness. Some viewers have interpreted the key scene where this happens as Malick’s vision of the “afterlife,” but there are sequences that follow that clearly indicate—at least to me—that it is instead the moment of spiritual catharsis that adult Jack’s memories and internal suffering have been building toward through the entire film.
If this story sounds very traditional, it should, because it is. It has to be, in order not to interfere with what I took to be Malick’s genuine purpose, which is to ask the viewer to not become just emotionally involved, but to thoughtfully interact with the religious and philosophical matters of his concern.
Opening with a Biblical quote pertaining to God’s response to Job (which we will read very easily as analogous to the experiences of every character), Malick then offers us an opening voiceover that is 100% the key to understanding everything that is to come:
There are two ways through life: the way of Nature, and the way of Grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things. Grace doesn't try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.
To be just a little reductive, allow me to spell it out: Nature = Brad Pitt, Jack’s Dad. Grace = Jessica Chastain, Jack’s Mom.
Jack, as the adult child of these warring influences, struggles to choose the proper path that will help him to cope with the loss of his brother and reconcile his complicated relationship with his father. The Job passage makes clear that this dialogue is taking place between the characters (through not just Penn, but through Pitt, Chastain and McCracken) and their concepts of God, which is how the creation footage is brought into play.The footage mostly takes shape in an extended sequence that includes the Big Bang, the heaving volcanoes, the evolution of cells and the much talked about appearance of dinosaurs. The viewer is meant to extend the nature vs. grace argument through Jack's parents and to the difficulty with the paradox in the concept of a Supreme Being who appears both all-loving and indifferently cruel. Jack's parents are his creators. Within him the paths of nature and grace are jockey for lead position, both exert influence over him. Malick's film uses the simplest of stories to convey the largest of questions.The characters are demanding - sometimes literally, sometimes through suggestion and symbols - How? Why? Answer me.
The film's technical achievements are beyond reproach.Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography is the front runner for this year's Academy Award. The performances are quality (Pitt is effective as always, Chastain does wonders with little dialogue, the children are delightfully unaffected, naturalistic.) Not every choice please me; Penn's screen time seemed too minor, given it's his dlemma that we are initially believe will be the spine of the film. I should admit that I first thought the final shot - don't worry I won't spoil anything - to be shockingly banal, only to realize a short time later just how appropriate it really was, and how Malick lets the audience know, in those final frames, how they might lessen the internal burdens by making a connection.
