A King At Night at biblioklept.org has done a terrific job piecing together the story within Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Or maybe one of the stories within the movie. It’s funny to read the post and realize how slight a storyline can end up as such a powerful film. I also found it ironic that I had recently read Baroja’s The Tree of Knowledge, but that’s grist for another post.

The most disturbing part of the movie for me was how much I identified with Brad Pitt’s character. Don’t call Child Protection Services…not the abusive manner but some of the sources driving his behavior. The one thing from parenthood I least expected was how much you learn about yourself, both the good and the bad. Fortunately, as Malick’s film continually points out, grace and love are transcendent, mitigating factors for the rest of what we do.

I’ll continue to recommend the movie, even if I can’t always answer “What was it about?”