Terrence Malick Tree Life Time Eternity Analysis Essay

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1: Where Time Resides and The Tree of Life


In Malick’s The Tree of Life, life and eternity flow into and out of one another. Time is sensed in moments, fragments, memories, dreams. What does the film say about where time resides? Is it something that exists only in the imagination? Is it real, fleeting? Is it unreal when juxtaposed with the eternal (if that is even real?)? The film does a good job of raising these questions—but definitely leaves it open to the viewer about what to make of all the sensations and impressions that it presents. The film appears to suggest, ultimately, that time resides in nature, but that there is something that comes after—when time runs out—something that is called eternity. On this side of the grave, we may have fleeting intimations of eternity—a touch, a sound, an impression of beauty, a sense of grace, a spiritual encounter.
Time is witnessed in the spoken word, the shadow, the passing of days and seasons, and years and of life itself—gone yet not forgotten. Yet things that exist outside of time, like eternity and this elusive soul or spirit or God that seems to haunt the characters, viewing them from afar like the setting sun stealing glimpses of them through the branches of a tree at the end of day—these things seem to indicate a space separate from time. Time seems to reside in the experience, and in the mind, and yet to be unreal, ultimately. The heart yearns for more; time is constantly running out, and the heart seems to cry out in pain. Thus, the film opens with the announcement of the untimely passing of a son. The parents are struck with grief. Another son reflects on their pain, looking back from another decade—contemporary time. He thinks back to his childhood, and later his early adulthood when the news of his brother’s death came. He thinks of his parents older then. He then thinks of them when they were younger, less stricken by age and care and grief and pain. He thinks on and on, and we slip into his memory to see his childhood in fine detail—moment after moment of happiness, of searching, of sorrow, of suffering. Time, full of moments, swirls around us, all of it accompanied by wonderful scores—Respighi, Smetana—the memories fill us with a sense of wonder, of life, of happiness and joy, and yet at the end of it—time runs out; credits roll; we leave the experience with a sense of longing.

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The movie hints at something permanent on the other side—at the end—beyond the here and now—but how to get there, how to hope for it, how to believe in it, how to find it—that is the question. What we know is that time resides with us, ticking, ticking, every tick seemingly reminding us that our days are running out. And then what? The clock bids us to hurry. The film suggests…

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…are: “Out here, Barely see my breath, Surrounded by jealousy and death, I can\'t be reached, I\'ve only had one call, Dragged underneath, Separate from you all, You all. This time, I\'ve lost my own return, In spite of everything I\'ve learned, I hid my tracks, Spit out all my air, Slipped into cracks, Stripped of all my cares, My cares. I’m so tired, Sheep are counting me. No more struggle, No more energy, No more patient, You can write that down, It\'s all too crazy,
I\'m not sticking \'round.” Sean Penn’s adult character is world weary, tired of all the superficial talk and self-centered ambitions of those around him in his glitzy high-rise place of employment. He is looking inward and upward, trying to find some higher meaning for his life. He reflects on the death of his brother and their childhood together and, finally, just like in the song, he breaks free. He has a kind of vision of the end of time, when the world is no more. He sees himself on the shores of eternity. He sees those he knew before in the past—those he loved or those who were good, or those who, like him, were searching. They have all arrived on the shores of eternity, like wayfarers on the shores of Purgatory in Dante’s Purgatorio. Suddenly there is a sense of meaning, of permanence, of beauty that outlives death itself. The film seems to suggest that the soul is eternal; the song by Fugazi suggests that the….....

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