Tree of Life

After almost 40 years, Terence Malick, who thrilled us with the Martin Sheen/Sissy Spacek wild ride "Badlands", returns to the stark life and landscape of 1950's Waco, Texas in "Tree of Life". Before embarking on an almost dialog free expose of a hardscabble family, one is subjected to the most visually stunning creationist movie making since I took LSD in 1968 and watched Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey". Dinosaurs stand in for the apes, but you get the point. Questions of Nature vs. Grace, the meaning of life & love, and the existence of God are just a few of the themes. This movie might not be everyone's cup of tea (Gary dozed at the end and claimed "too heady for me!"). For me, the gift of Brad Pitt and Sean Penn on screen were enough. The acting was mostly facial expressions but the feelings and emotions conveyed were real. The older of the three boys is incredible as he loses his childhood innocence under his father's strict hand. I don't recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys special effects, as one might see in X-Men, yet for thought-provoking cinema, this is the real thing. Plus I loved the word "Tree" in the title!