Friday, May 11, 2012

Favorite Scene Friday - Mother's Day Edition! The Tree of Life: The Way of Nature versus The Way of Grace

"There are two ways through life.  The way of nature and the way of grace.  You have to choose which one you'll follow."

The Tree of Life is an amazing, frustrating film.  I have probably never seen a movie shot so beautifully, with such breath-taking imagery, yet left the theatre feeling so bothered and confused.  I remember seeing it with every intention of writing a review, but I just....couldn't.  What's the movie about?  It's about life.  The universe.  God.  Family.  Faith.  Love.  Loss.  Reconciling your life and beliefs as a child with what your adult life has become.   All of these things...combined with how this world came to be.  To sum it up, The Tree of Life is about the meaning of life.  It's about why we're all really here.  And maybe that's why I had such a hard time wrapping my mind around it.  Because at the end of the day, it brought about so many questions...fundamental, life-altering questions...that I quite simply cannot even begin to answer. 

Having said all of this, I absolutely loved this movie.  I loved how every scene was like a memory.  I loved how the beauty of life was explored, again and again.  I loved how perfectly Jessica Chastain played her role as mother to those three boys...and how she most resembled Mother Earth...mother to all of us. 

So on this Favorite Scene Friday, I chose one of my favorite scenes that involves Jessica Chastain's madonna-like character.  One of the things I took away from the movie is that we should all aspire to be just like her in the way we live.  This clip is one of the opening scenes, and reveals her reflections on her life - her childhood, her love, her faith, and the beauty, or grace, with which she sees the world.  Happy Friday, everyone. 



5 comments:

  1. This will sound weird but I didn't much like the film overall but I LOVED the cinematography and music. Great pleasure to watch that scene again though. Some stunning shots at the end there and always a pleasure to stare at Chastain's beautiful hair.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great scene :) I'm the opposite to Pete - I loved the film as a whole, it even moved me to tears. This scene is one of my favourites!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pete - I understand what you're saying completely. I almost needed some time to think about it to realize that I DID actually like it! Definitely not your typical movie. But the cinematography was breathtaking!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ruth - finding this scene online led me to watch a number of other scenes from the movie. Many of those scenes brought me to tears. The Tree of Life was a work of art - from start to finish. Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have yet to see this film! I let some negative reviews get to me but I think I need to watch it for myself. Me likey da Chastain.

    ReplyDelete