Earthly Grace Of Mankind

movie review: The Tree Of Life

Far be it for me to contradict the Cannes Film Festival jury, or some critics who saw The Tree of Life there and sang its praises to the skies, but I respectfully disagree. I would never dismiss the film out of hand—it has too many beautiful passages, conveying the conflicting emotions of childhood—but I think its reach exceeds its grasp. One can applaud Terrence Malick for attempting something as bold as a picture that ruminates on the place of mankind in nature and the history of the universe. But even an ambitious artist has to be judged on results, not intentions. I couldn’t connect the “big bang,” or the interaction of dinosaurs, with the life of a family in 1950s Texas, and frankly, I found the shots of protozoa, flowing water, and the cosmos itself to be beautiful but— The Tree of Life is truly a film in which the parts are greater than the whole. The depiction of small-town life in the mid-20th century is superb, especially as shot by Emmanuel Lubezki. We witness the emotional journey of a boy from infancy to youth, from being the sole object of his mother’s loving attention to sharing her with two brothers, and his subsequent growing pains. This involves boyhood adventures, moments of curiosity, discovery, guilt and pain—all of it vividly conveyed through the intimacy of the camera with our young protagonist (Hunter McCracken). Comments

We wish we would have read your review before spending $14.50 to see this horrible movie.  It should have been a dead giveaway that the only theatre showing this film was 25 miles away from our home.  (FYI:  We live in the San Francisco Bay area.)  You have just become our favorite movie critic !!

By Rich & Vel Osborne on June 17, 2011

Ignoring the history of the universe,  the core of what I thought was a narrative was a man intensely trying to revive his childhood memories.

Sure there are lots of random moments in the film, but isn’t that how memories work?  There’s a lot of events we remember, but cannot connect the dots, or recall it’s significance.

For example, when the family goes to town, they see a bunch of criminals being arrested, a crowd of people shouting around them. Jack and the audience aren’t able to hear/remember what they are saying, only that the event happened.  We’re only able to pick up on certain details - the way the criminals thrashed around the backseat of the squad care, or the way.

Quiet, Dignity, and Grace: Man's Longing for God, Part 3 (What IS ...

God is one. The Christian faith confesses that God is one in nature, essence, and substance. This is really basic, but also an intriguing development. One of the things the Old Covenant had to stress over and over was that there was really only one God. A great example of this is the Shema: "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." (Deut. 6: 4-5) He is the source of everything. He lacks nothing. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end. Simply put, this means that God is perfect. There is nothing about God that is not perfect. This makes his creation of each of us all the more incredible. God didn't make us to serve him as mindless slaves; he created us out of sheer love. He created us and purely because he wanted to, not out of any necessity. God’s mercy knows absolutely no bounds. Anything that anyone has ever done could have been forgiven. Someone doesn’t even have to be sorry for their sin to be forgiven of it. It’s obviously safer to be sorry and ask for forgiveness. But, because God is so powerful, He can forgive anyone. Literally ANYONE can be forgiven of ANYTHING. That is what infinite mercy means; it knows absolutely no bounds. Because God is perfect, his justice is perfect and infinite. We just said that He is infinitely merciful, meaning He forgives. But God also judges. And whatever He judges is perfectly judged. That means if God deems that someone or something deserves punishment, He will punish. God can choose to punish or forgive the same offense and whichever he chooses is perfect. So, God is both infinitely just and merciful. Nobody can ever be proclaimed, by human wisdom, as damned to Hell. The Church never even says that. We can never know of the judgment of anyone’s soul except the Saints who we know are in Heaven. This is one of the difficulties with understanding the Christian God: He's not simple.  Every aspect of His being is something which permeates his being entirely.  He is completely merciful and completely just.  So if an action results in mercy or justice, it's not God simply preferring one to the other...it's him treating the person appropriately, as they deserve.  Mercy isn't God just being weak; justice isn't God being cruel.  Whatever His response, it flows from his perfect judgment on the matter.

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"the Covenant Of Grace itself," Milton wrote, "on the part of God, is first declared Gen. iii. 15." "On the part of man, its existence may be considered as ...

Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes, An Exposition of the Scriptures for Disciples and Young Christians Volume 1 Genesis

It is all of grace, so man has no right to it and doesn't deserve it and hasn't earned it. Jesus, not us, paid it all. Whenever anyone does go to Jesus on ...

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This man was Jesus. In him there was a visible realization of both sides of ... In him grace became fully visible; he is the embodiment of the grace of ...