Films of the Decade, No. 25


Over the next 25 weeks I'll be rolling out my favorite films of the last decade. This is, as all lists of this kind, personal selections. Agree, disagree, make a comment and share your thoughts!

No. 25 Tree of Life (2011)
Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain
Director: Terrence Malick
Academy Award Nominations: 3
Academy Award Wins: 0
About: This is probably the film on the list I struggled the most with. It's a personal list of films I loved in the decade, and I would never have classified "Tree of Life" as a film I love. Yet it's one I've seen many times, and one that's stuck with me for years. I've taught the film, and I've thought of it often. And ultimately, when it came time to make this list, it felt wrong not to have it as a part of the collection. So here it sits, No. 25. The film was polarizing when it was released. Reportedly at the Cannes film festival, where it debuted, half the audience gave it a standing ovation and half booed. It seems most people either love the film or hate the film. I don't love it or hate it, but I am drawn to it. Probably for some of the same ways that Malick was drawn to tell the story. It begins with a passage of Scripture from the book of Job. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4, 7) If you understand the verse in context—it's where God is speaking to Job after Job's accusations of God in the midst of sorrow and suffering—it frames the rest of this film. It's a meditation by someone who wants to believe in a loving and benevolent God, someone whose faith tells them it's wrong to question that notion of God, but who struggles with the sorrow and injustice he sees in the world. It's a lot of internal monologues, a lot of beautiful shots, and a lot of time asking you to search your heart and think about the content being provided. That isn't everyone's cup of tea, I know, but it is something that, as I said, has stuck with me for all this time, and is a reason I come back to this story. It stirs something in me that only the best art can do, and so it needed to be on this list. The film is beautifully shot, a reason Malick was nominated as a director and it earned a Cinematography nomination, but it didn't win anything. Still, the enduring mark of a film isn't awards, as I mentioned in the introduction to this series last week. It remains a film that I find fascinating and one that provides some food for thought, especially for people of faith as we think about what makes it hard for the world to share that faith at times.
Rating: PG-13 for some thematic material.

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