I have seen a few experimental films here and there throughout the years, many of which tend to be specific in what they're trying to tell. Either being documentaries entirely, or highly experimental but pertaining strictly to a certain theme. It seems a bit of a rarity that something to be considered experimental also tells a fictional story. Displaying the usual characteristics of your typical indie or blockbuster narrative but also thriving with ideas that extend beyond the usual norms. Philosophy, existentialism, and sprinkled in is the expected perspective on things such as youth, fear and loss. It is such themes that end up distancing most people from the world of experimental films. Perhaps a bit too deep and, well, often a bit of a bore for most. I myself don't really find most of them all that enjoyable or worth watching, they tend to give you the main idea within the first ten minutes and hold filler for another near two hours! In fact, I didn't even mean to watch The Tree of Life. For some reason I got it confused with A History of Violence featuring Viggo Mortensen. I have no idea how I managed to make that mistake, but I am actually quite glad I did. The Tree of Life is an interesting film, one that takes you on a journey through the complexities of life.
Though with this being a film branded as experimental, I feel it has enough story and connection between the two that it doesn't distance you or lose you at any point. Instead, The Tree of Life feels like a melancholic dream through the perspective of a small boy growing up in the 1950s, struggling to get through his youth through a series of problems. With this perspective, it feels deeply human. Very grounded but also out there in the vastness of space visually. Taking the audience beyond the foundations of life as we know it and instead into the realm of emotion. We would like to think we are quite familiar with our emotions, and what they mean as we feel them, but how aware are we of these emotions being within for thousands of years? Produced by nature and only exacerbated by the complexities of our modern lives, as the chaos and anxiety ramps up like the skyline of a capital city. What would we do with ourselves if we were more in touch with these emotions? What would we do with the time we have if we really knew how fragile it all is? These are some of the ideas found within The Tree of Life, but merely scratching the surface.
The Tree of Life
One of the first things I noticed about The Tree of Life was its heavy use of very wide angle lenses. These distorted perspectives really offered a unique, odd perspective on everyday events and locations. An attic stretched and thinning, with a character towering over it distorted as well, it pulls out this very weird, unsettling emotion from within. These perspectives are utilised throughout the film, often distorting the environment and giving it this nightmarish feel. To which I found quite interesting; does our protagonist consider life to be nightmarish? Do they see reality as some twisted, distorted dream? Our protagonist is a child, a small boy. We get cuts to his adult life in the city with the same perspectives, overwhelmed and uncertain about everything. I found myself really enjoying the narration that was matched with these shots. And the narration ofen plays throughout, from the child's voice or his adult one. This came over muted sounds that seemed more focused on specific events or objects, to which all other sounds were gone. The sound of wind, or the sound or birds chirping in the sunshine. Focused on these particular sounds, your senses are relaxed, almost having you placed into a trance state.
The narration often explores very personal, but direct messaging. They contain questions or thoughts that are directed to someone. It is clear that this someone is often just God, as our child protagonist struggles with the idea of having faith, growing up and beginning to see the world in a new light. Troubled by external expectations and the tough upbringing from his father. To which his own stubborn nature grows, resulting in a young, bitter boy that loses his innocence more and more as the film continues. We get the perspective of his family in this, his caring mother, harsh father, and his brother. Each of them offer some influence into his growth phase, to which it's all conflicting ideas and hormones going mad. This part of the film feels so different to the rest, as it explores the idea of youth and the troubled development of a boy as boyish interests arise. Getting into trouble, messing around with friends, tormenting the brother. Even as far as talking back to parents and testing the waters there to see what can be gotten away with. It doesn't make you feel a certain way for this character or family, but instead expires the struggles of growing up and life in this 1950s location. Though, this is hardly even the experimental aspect of the film. For the most part, this is just some of the narrative that displays the chaotic life of a modern human.
The experimental parts of the film feel more like a space documentary. We see the passing of time unfolding before our eyes. The formations of stars, the death of stars, the death of the Earth. This brings out the existential aspects of the film and how the character challenges the idea of life and faith through the realisation of mortality. Mostly something his adult self connects with. But we see these scenes from the start. The special effects here are some really well, sometimes with narrative over them, but we see many different locations and events through time in space. It connects us with the odd realisation of what we are, and the fact that we are here now. It's utterly insane to think about. A universe of its scale forming, massive stars and insane scales of destruction and creation as things are made and die, only to result in us. For what? I really enjoyed these parts of the film, they really pull you out of the fiction side of it all, and then throw you back into it with a sudden new set of questions or ideas. Suddenly you see the child's harsh upbringing and question what the point of it all is? Is this living? Should we be living this way? The existentialism in the film finds a way to impact your perspective on the story, pulling on your own empathy to feel for the child and adult version of him as he continues to struggle with the philosophical side of life. It's almost as if he is trying to escape it all, desperate to find answers that may open a door somewhere and let him out, to a place of actual peace.
It's all very beautiful, but certainly not for everyone. I can see how some may be discouraged or confused in parts, though I feel this is a film that tells you quite easily what to think and why. Chances are, however, it'll leave you wanting to be a better, more present person. Less full of drama and chaos, and more thinking on what it really means to be alive. The insanity of everything that has happened before you to get you to this point. Billions of years of history happened that led to you; but for what?
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