As an ordinary movie watcher, I must admit that there are many things that I don't understand, such as those scenes of realgar and the universe, maybe this fits the theme of "The Tree of Life", but from the viewing experience, it only Makes me puzzled and sleepy.
In addition to this design, the film tells the story of a rural American family, a father, a housewife, and three children. Every character is well drawn.
Father is a typical religious, strict to a little bit strict, reckless display of patriarchy at home. But there's no denying that he loves his family. The family also holds a great weight in American Protestant thinking. Such a father is the kind of person I avoid being, hypocritical, arrogant, generous with myself and strict with others. He's not useless, but all I see are points that need to be changed and crowned.
The mother is in stark contrast to the father. She does not believe in social Darwinism, but rather has a spirit of equality and fraternity. She is more indulgent to her children, and it is difficult to disobey her husband. It also seems to be a typical mother figure. There are a lot of pictures from the mother's perspective in the film, but the overall impression still feels that the female voice is weak in this film and is covered under the male power.
Besides the father, there is another force that comes from the eldest son, who has been trained since childhood to be a big brother, just like his father. The film can also be seen as an argument from his memory. From the perspective of the eldest son, the story attempts to develop an Oedipus complex of "killing the father and marrying the mother". Killing my father was the scene of repairing the car. It was very exciting. I almost thought he was going to kill him, but in the end he still had a showdown with his father and reconciled. "Marriage" is when he broke into his mother's room, took out one of his mother's clothes and spread it on the bed, did something we don't know, and then threw it away.
The other two sons are in contrast to the eldest son. Their personalities are more like mothers, especially the second son. They are talented and docile, and they are liked by everyone. The eldest son often bullies him, and he can feel his jealousy. In the film's narrative, the eldest son also apologizes to the younger brother at the end.
but!
It is undeniable that this film is completely from the perspective of the eldest son, which means that these are his inner dramas. What did he think about his brother's death? Although he may not "kill" himself, is it possible that he killed his younger brother in his heart, and all this reconciliation is just a rationalization of his behavior or feelings afterwards?
(First published on personal blog https://vincent.xyz/posts/movie_review/the_tree_of_life/ )
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