Here is a movie that
transcends all that is cinema, liberating itself from conventions and defying
the norms of what is normal. All for the act of artistic splendor. The movie is
impossible to talk about, plot-wise, because the plot is very dense and it’s not
the most important attribute in this movie.
The movie is filled
with awe inspiring visuals, from the cosmos up in space, to the dinosaurs in
the primordial times. The movie also focuses its attention to a family in Waco,
Texas, representing the origin and coming life, its hardships, its tragedies,
and its uplifting progression to the place above and beyond our life. Terrence
Malick is the mastery of beauty in his images. Every scene and every shot is
meticulously composed with pure thought. Here is a movie that doesn’t have much
of a story and because so, there are some leeways in directing.
The movie appears like
a professional movie with the sense of that National Geographic beauty and the
uplifting sense of a spiritual movie, in that, the collection of videos and
images were nothing but absolute wonder. Never have there been such a movie
about perfect tranquility since 2001: A
Space Odyssey. Unlike the two second rule of editing, the shots linger on
for a while in order for us take hold of the image. Cutting it short for
cinematic purposes would ruin the meaning. In many ways, people will hate this
movie for being slow, for going nowhere, and because of Terrence Malick. There
is also the collection of irrelevant images that do seem to be there for a
reason. We have some images of space, the dawn of man, and a brief scene with
dinosaurs. The space nebulas set to a requiem opera is possibly the object of
desire in this movie that will cease people to think.
Despite having only
just a collection of awe inspiring shots of nature and beauty, I wanted more.
The movie alone is pretty long, but I wouldn’t mind if it was longer. At this
point, I need not stare at my watch and the movie does a wonderful job of doing
away that temptation. At this point, I point this out to Terrence Malick, the
director. I’ve never really appreciated his movies and have been against the
man himself for having a weird sense of penning his movie, and his strange
recluse life. After watching this movie, I will take back all that I’ve said
about him.
With this, I do have
one large regret. I should have seen it in theaters, where the transcendence
would’ve grabbed me even more. Because of my petty arguments about Terrence
Malick, I lost the will to pay to go see it in theaters. Now, I have to find
midnight showings in faraway places in order to watch this movie in theaters as
punishment for not giving our hated people a chance. This movie is not just an experience;
it was a journey with no end. It's a powerful gripping movie that gives us the
images. It's now our job to figure out what it means.
