"If God had not existed, man would have had to invent him". Thus spoke Voltaire in an effort to explain mankind’s eternal desire to make sense of the world and to justify what appears to be random, inexplicable and unfair. Is a world without reason truly possible to bear? Nothing is more unreasonable than the death of a child and this is the driving force behind Terrence Malik's latest movie and the catalyst for a two and a half hour reflection on life, love and creation.
Sean Penn plays Jack, a successful but disenchanted corporate executive who looks back on the his life to find some sort of meaning; his fear of his father, a demanding and disciplinarian bully (Brad Pitt) constantly angry with his boys; his contempt but love for his mother, a beautiful, ethereal but weak-minded angel (Jessica Chastain) devoted to her church and to her God; and his relationship with his soon-to-die brother, never easy, never normal and ultimately full of regret.
Suddenly, without notice, the film descends into a lengthy and over-indulgent-camera-fest on the origins of life, losing both its direction and its audience. We are swept from volcanic eruptions to the implosion of stars, from the dawn of the earth the birth of new life including a carnivorous dinosaur that inexplicably releases its prey. While the camerawork is spectacular (Emmanuel Lubezki) and the music (Mahler, Berlioz and Holst) suitably compelling, Malik's philosophical meanderings utterly fail to convince. While the questions are valid – the meaning of life, our place in the world, the existence of God - the responses are weak none more so than Jack’s mother who abandons her child - "take my son", she blasphemes, in a clear parallel to Jesus Christ and his Father.
The characters do their best with Malik's sparse, repetitive and poorly drafted script, despite continual interruptions from inappropriate voiceovers. Pitt is very strong, his aggression believable and his regret sincere. Chastain glides serenely through her part, although her levitation is frankly bizarre. But Hunter McCracken (the young Jack) is the star, tormented and tormenting, and desperate for the approbation and love of his father. While the scale of Malik’s ambition is to be commended – presumably the reason for winning the 2011 Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival - his execution disappoints and the movie ends up falling between stools; lightweight documentary or unfinished drama.
To be avoided at all costs. Spurious and poorly thought through. 5/10. DM
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