Tree of Life --- Review by Fr. Robert Barron

If you haven’t already, you should really consider watching Tree of Life. Unlike most movies, there isn’t really a concrete plot to it, so I cannot suggest with a high certainty that you will get out of it the same ideas that I did. But I am confident that the experience you will get from this movie will be extraordinary. If you would like a learned Catholic’s interpretation of Terrence Malick’s film, please watch this.

Father Robert Barron, as many of you know from the series Catholicism, comments on this movie in the above video. The title “Tree of Life” comes from the book of Genesis, in the story of Adam and Eve. They are living with the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They are given the choice to “grasp” at the latter tree and attempt to understand what God only fully knows. This is assuming a God-like position, and denying an access to real life.

Fr. Barron suggests that the main point of the movie is an attempt to show God’s answer to the human question: “why is there suffering?” Evidence that the movie is about this is that it starts with a verse from the book of Job:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job38:4,7

This is a part of God’s conversation with Job, a character in the Bible who, in his story, suffers greatly. So, this question of suffering can be examined from God’s point of view.

In the movie, we have two main human characters, the mom and the dad. In Fr. Barron’s interpretation, the dad represents “nature” and the mom represents “nurture,” or grace. The dad raises the children by teaching them the ways of the world, teaching them to be on top of the competition. The mom raises them with grace, allowing them to enjoy life and live it as though each day was the last.

Fr. Barron goes on to say that nature and grace are both controlled by God. Neither is good or evil, but God, through them, is good.

God allows “negativity” into God’s creation for the purpose of producing a greater good. God allows a certain play of the hard-edged and the forgiving.

So, the answer (the movie) answers our question and says to us that we weren’t there when God created the universe, world, etc. but we should accept that God is the One who knows the full truth and knows what God is doing. This is how we can re-gain access to the Tree of Life from Genesis.