Chapter 1- Rebirth.

The winds were blowing. You could hear them sing. It was a beautiful song.

Too perfect for words. Not pleasant. But beautiful. Like death. Sadistic. Yet gentle.

The forests did not move. The trees were beautiful.

Glass statues.

Not dead. Not alive as well. Peaceful.

There was no-one around for miles. No humans that is. Solitary animals would always be there.

Wolves. White bears. Cougars.

Free animals. Animals which did not need a group to survive. They were their own group.

Their own village. Their own kingdom. They followed the rules they made for themselves. They were their own society.

Their own family. He could here them moan occasionally in the distance.

Amidst all this he lies. On a white carpet. Naked. He could see his nose. Blue nose.

He could feel the pain. Yet he could feel nothing. An hour had passed. He had not moved since

an hour. He knew it wasnt long. His time had come. He always wanted to die a happy man.

This was not the way he wanted to die. Yet, death was all he wanted at the moment.

It was like him to give up. Yet all his fight was lost. Even if by any miracle,

there was any chance, that he would breathe for 1 more day, he wouldnt take it.

He wanted to die. It was easy. It was an escape. An unending peace was all he wanted.

He had felt his body parts go numb one by one. His limbs were already numb and paralysed when he woke up.

He had tried moving his body. 20 mins he moved. Then he gave up. You always try your hardest when you fight a losing battle. He didnt know when he woke up. It should have been night. Except there were no nights.

He closed his eyes. He was breathing his final few breaths. People try to relive their lives

at a moment like this. All he wanted to do was forget. Yet it kept coming to him. He tried to push them away. He tried to sing but his lips were frozen. Sealed.

People try to think of moments that they could relive.

All such moments he thought of, involved his family. Family. They killed all of it. He didnt miss them though. He was the only one left. In a few breaths his entire line would be lost.

Years of heritage. The days of glory. The songs of galore. All was about to be lost.

There would be no songs about him. Maybe they would remember about him in songs of betrayal.

Maybe there would be no songs of betrayal. History is written by the winners they say.

Maybe they will make him out to be what he was. A coward. Who couldnt defend his honour.

Who couldnt defend his family . They would not be wrong. That is what he all was. A coward.

People try to remember the things that they could change. Things that they might have done

differently. He would have lived his entire life differently.

At 7, he would have killed his uncles for constantly tormenting him. That would have saved him years of torture. He should have done it. Yes. He would not be lying on the snow if he would have done that. At 17, he would have killed his father for fucking the only girl he loved, in front of him.

He had taken away his innocence, and his ability to love.

He should have killed his step mother for constantly and methodically emasculating him.

He was Him because of her. He hated himself. He hated her for that.

There was nothing in this world he would miss. It would be a right thing to die. A logical thing

to give up. His life had no purpose. No-one to live for. He closed his eyes for one last time.

The last thing that he saw was two eyes..... staring at him. Probably of a wild animal. Definitely a wild animal.

He did not care.

He was going where he wanted to go. He closed his eyes. One last time.

And slept. For the first time in his life, he was peaceful.

THE HANGOVER

I was 11 when this happened. One night, when I had gone to bed, I woke up to hear a

noise and looked to my open bedroom door, where I saw a dark figure

(which was outlined by the bathroom light remaining on) staring at me with red eyes.

Thinking that it was my mother, I had called out to her multiple times, each time

getting louder and louder. By the third time I called out to her, her red eyes did

not move and I was getting frantic, screaming out to my mom and hiding beneath my

covers.

She kept calling out to me,"Son,come to me" she said.

"No mommy I'm scared"

A voice echoed "You dont have to be son, Mommy's always with you"

After a while,I mustered whatever courage I had in me and walked to that figure.

"Sit down by mommy's lap son" it said

I did.I loved my mommy.She kept all those noises away.

"I know you loved me son"It was as though it was reading my mind.

"Yes mommy and I still love you."

"I know son..and mommy loves you,even though you killed mommy"

"What are..."

*TRINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG*

The alarm. Stupid alarm. Bad dream. Thank god it was a dream. I was sweating. Cold sweat.

I didnt open my eyes. I screamed for Mommy. Mommy didnt come. "Mommy I heard those noises again." Please come to me. She didnt come. I opened my eyes. There was blood on my hands. Mommy my hands are bleeding. She didnt come. I went to her room. She was still sleeping,still bleeding.

The carpet was drenched in blood. Now I remembered. FUCK!

Review:The Tree of Life.

P.S.:This Film fascinated me so much that after watching it on screen, I downloaded it and watched it over and over. As a result,I might have unintentionally leaked out a few spoilers. But,to be honest,I think you guys would be better off reading it. Or you can read this after watching the movie. Entirely upto you.

Tree of Life. Terrence Malick's fifth film in nearly four decades. If your throughput is this low,then your work better be extra-ordinary. A tall order you would think. It is. So is Tree of Life a Classic? Is it pathbreaking? Kinda.

This movie is essentially about two things-Balance and Life.

To get through in life you have to keep your head low at times, so that you dont bump your head against something. But if you bend too much, someone might just come along and fuck you from behind. Yes. Balance is essential for sustenance. Yin-yang. Good-Bad. Life-Death. Creation-Destruction. Time and again the film touches this aspect. In one scene Brad Pitt asks his son to hit him in the face" Be tough Lad its essential for survival" he says, preparing his son for this dog-eat-dog world. On another scene, you see him literally breaking down when his son dies. The scene where he gets a telegram informing him of his son's death is heart-wrenching. Yes. Kids-who speak in murmurs when their "father" is around,drench their mother with a hose when their "dad" is away. Balance is essential. Yes

Another important aspect of this movie is LIFE - Creation,evolution and destruction of life. Birth, Growth and Death.

Initially,Malick takes us thorugh the evolution of life on Earth. Which,if put in one word is visual and technical brilliance. Pure eyegasm . We see formation of birth. We see the brilliance of life. Creatures fight for survival,but also show compassion.

(*Balance*).

Creature with emotions,creatures with beauty,creatures with life. And in an instance, an asteroid hits Earth and all of it is destroyed. An entire ecosystem vanishes. This scene is shot with such calmness that you feel small and inconsequential. On one hand Malick makes us feel good that we are alive,while on the other hand he makes us feel that our lives doesnt matter. Sheer poetry on screen. Sheer brilliance. Intellectually and philosophically.

Simultaneously, Malick takes us through the life of Jack,Brad Pitt's son. His innocence,his loss of innocence and his maturity as a man. Another metaphor for life Id imagine. By the way,the kid playing Jack was brilliant,and the movie belongs to him.

Along with these, the film as filled with subtleties and metaphores, but it'd be better if you guys figure that out on your own.

Now if u've read so far it may seem that this movie is an absolute classic. But sadly,in my opinion, its not. Let me go thorough the cons, point by point.

First, the initial 10-15 mins of the movie, barring the telegram scene is boring at best. Its like watching your pubes grow in the bathroom. Yep that boring.

Secondly, the editing is erratic and inconsistent. Some scenes which should have been there are not, that being said the movie could have easily done away with atleast 15 minutes worth or film.

A few characters are not required. Sean Penn is completely wasted in the movie and doesnt deserve to be in the movie posters, let alone the movie.

The ending is interesting but disappointing... Its almost impossible to decode Malicks vision. I havent been able to do so so far with complete satisfaction and you are welcome to give it a try.

That being said, the movie is a must watch for peeps who take their cinema seriously. That too only in theatres, if you are going to watch it just once or for the first time. You would be wasting your bandwidth and time if you download it from torrentz.

My rating:3.75/5