Stewart Clem has this to say about The Tree of Life : Malick’s film “looks unflinchingly at life’s greatest mysteries – love, loss, alienation, and suffering – without a hint of cynicism. It’s a feat that’s rarely even attempted.” It “not only attempts to be beautiful, but invites and urges the viewer to think about beauty itself. We only need to remember Gore Vidal’s remark that ‘Santayana was the last aesthetician to describe beauty without self-consciousness; and that was in 1896’ to comprehend the audacity of such a project.”
Clem’s reflections are available here: http://www.transpositions.co.uk/2011/07/natures-grace-encountering-the-tree-of-life/
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