The Tree of Life  Jake Wilson July 02, 2011  A chilly Manhattan
forms a backdrop to Sean Penn's narrative journey.  A chilly
Manhattan forms a backdrop to Sean Penn's narrative journey.
Reviewer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars  Reader rating: 3 out of 5
stars (192 votes)  Genre: Drama  Actors: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn
Director: Terrence Malick  Screen writer: Terrence Malick  OFLC
rating: Yet to be classified  Year: 2011  IN HIS previous film,
The New World (2005), Terrence Malick went to the 17th century
to imagine the relations between Native Americans and their
British colonisers. The Tree of Life is an equally extraordinary
vision of first contact, not between two cultures but between a
soul and the universe.  Much of the film's opening section is
devoted to the origins of the world: molten lava pouring from
the Earth's core, life emerging from the ocean. A dinosaur lies
face down by a riverbank. A beast of prey wanders past and sets
its claw on the smaller creature's head, then mysteriously goes
on its way. Pur