The tree of life

Abstract

The article examines Terrence Malick's most representative film. Starting from his studies of philosophy at Harvard and Oxford, that lead him to systematically scrutinize the human condition according to Martin Heidegger, the author analyzes the dual storyline of the movie; the vicissitudes of an American family composed by two parents and three sons living in the American countryside in the mid-20th Century, during the short span of human life, and the representation of the birth of the universe, of the Solar System and of the life on Earth, during the incalculable time of 15 billions years since the Big Bang. The tree in the home garden where the story of the children's childhood takes place, along with the vicissitudes of their parents, transforms into the figure of the tree of life where the different characters rediscover the way of Grace and recover the presence of God.