Something to watch tonight: Wednesday 2 October

The Tree of Life (Malick, 2011))

The Tree of Life has landed at TVNZ+ and, of course, I must recommend it!

Going back to when I first wrote about it, I see that it was the same week as Fire in Babylon, which I recommended here a couple of weeks ago.

That was a good week!

It’s the fifth anniversary of my first column for this paper – my, how time flies. Five years of searching – usually in vain – for some transcendence among the many flickering images in dozens of darkened rooms. And then, as if by magic, transcendence appears.

It has taken a few weeks – and a second viewing – to properly process Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Often baffling, frustrating, unhelpful, yet emotional and evocative in ways I couldn’t put my finger on, I wrestled with it throughout the two and a half hour running time – searching for answers and meaning among the beautiful images, floating, soaring camerawork and weird diversions into cosmology and vulcanology.

Near the end I realised that I was doing it wrong. The Tree of Life isn’t a puzzle to be worked out – it’s a deeply personal hymn to the universe and to our unique place within it. It took a second viewing – one where I allowed myself to feel rather than think my way through it – before I could truly appreciate the wonder of Malick’s vision: grace and nature, the sacred and profane, the glorious and the banal are all equally cosmic and all equally precious. The Tree of Life will reward you more the less effort you put in.

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Where to watch The Tree of Life

Aotearoa: Digital rental from AroVision or streaming on TVNZ+ (free with ads)

Australia: Streaming on Stan

Canada: Not currently available

Ireland, USA & UK: Digital rental