Robert Beksinski’s review published on Letterboxd:
Watching Malick's 'The Tree of Life' has become a religious experience for me. One that literally brings me to my knees, finds my hands clenched tight, and tears in my eyes. There has rarely ever seen before a more beautiful film than what is shown here. Emmanuel Lubezki captures the very essence of life on celluloid, which was absolutely necessary for this film to contain.
Malick's film explores themes of evil existing in a world of beauty and grace. The hypocrisy of our fathers, both physical and spiritual. The loss of innocence as a child, and the ultimate search for meaning and truth in life. This is explored through cyclic natures showing birth, marriage, growth, death, and even the creation of our planet and the origins of life itself.
It’s no wonder Malick constantly refers to the biblical story of Job throughout the film. Malick's main concern is of his characters questioning the very idea of their existence, and of everything they thought they knew of their world. A boy dies, why does God allow this to happen. At one moment the young Jack puts God on trial by saying:
"Why should I be good? When you aren't."
He does the same to his own father, a strict man with high morals, by calling him out on his own hypocrisy on many occasions. A woman in the beginning of the film also attempts to cover for the injustices of God, and the crimes against the innocent, she says:
"He [God] sends flies to wounds that he should heal"
The film never attempts to answer these philosophical musings, nor take a stance. Whether you are a believer of faith who accepts the mysteries and complexities of God, or an atheist who takes pleasure in the beauty of nature, while being reminded of a violent world of the same vein. This is similar to what Jessica Chastain's character Mrs. O'Brien is saying in the beginning.
"The nuns taught us 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' remains a testament of sheer beauty put on film, and one of the most phantasmagoric experiences you will ever see in a movie. Malick makes a perfect film here, and despite his actors never being put ahead of his visual storytelling (often time the majority of their performances cut out in the final edit), I feel Brad Pitt gives one of his best performances. It's a subtle role that in its quietude speaks volumes through its expression. This is Malick's masterpiece, plain and simple.