To the Wonder

I had the misfortune of waiting on a particularly miserable couple the other night.  Being a waiter, I sometimes have to deal with tables that come in angry.  I try to put them in a good mood, but some people are just immune to my Burt Reynolds-esque charm.  I just have to swallow my pride and nod my head at their condescending demeanor and insulting comments.  At one end of the table sat the rude, Joe Don Baker look-a-like husband.  "Hey, weren't you the villain in The Living Daylights?"  He came complete with a Jimmy Buffett concert t-shirt and old man sandals.  On the other end sat his exasperated wife, seemingly embarrassed by her husband's conduct, but too meek to comment.  What a pair.

At first, I was frustrated with the couple and their unreasonable requests.  However, I was suddenly filled with a great sense of pity and sadness for them both.  How did they get to this point in their relationship?  There must have been a time when their relationship was a thing of beauty.  He probably asked her on a date and she excitedly said "yes."  She began to tell all her friends about him; about his kind words and tender touch.  He asked her if she would be his wife and she answered with tears and a loving embrace.  The future held nothing but bright days and contentment for them both.  When did things change?  How did they change?  Did they wake up one morning and find themselves looking at utter strangers?  Did it happen subtly over a long period?  How did two young, happy lovers become just a bitter old couple?

Terrence Malick's new film, To the Wonder, asks these same questions.  How is love found?  How is it lost?  As in the majority of his films, love comes with a capital "L" and is more than a feeling between two lovers; it is a cosmic force.  In The Tree of Life, a young child bends in the cosmic winds of the magnetic forces of nature and grace.  In The New World, John Smith finds himself torn between the beauty of nature and belligerent civilization.  In all Malick's films, the characters are at the mercy of nature and the universe.  Malick's protagonists exhibit free will, but they are still small figures in a large and powerful cosmos.  In To the Wonder, powerful Love comes from the divine and moves through the characters like diverted streams.  But, as Malick shows, streams can go dry.

I love Terrence Malick. Ever since I first saw Badlands, I have been enamored of his talent, heart, and poetic voice.  I really can't count the number of chills I get when watching The Thin Red Line.  They seem to multiply every time I watch the film.  While many audiences walked out of the theater during The Tree of Life, I was glued to my seat.  I have never seen the journey of an innocent soul so beautifully depicted on the screen.  The fact that Malick is so polarizing makes me love him all the more.  I'm a born contrarian and I jump at any chance to go against the grain.  Any time you want to fight about the artistic merit of Terrence Malick, give me a call.

I may not be able to defend To the Wonder too well.  This is easily his weakest film.  It is by no means a bad film, but it is often obvious, preachy, and repetitive.  In his other five films, Malick can be overly poetic and self-indulgent.  However, these other films have a narrative framework to contain the director's esoteric flourishes.  The Thin Red Line has many segments that deal with Love, but they are woven into the exciting and compelling story of Guadalcanal.  The Tree of Life goes off the deep end at some points, looking at the birth of the universe and intelligent life.  Still, the artistic abstractions are held down by the strong story of a boy and his loss of innocence.  In To the Wonder, there is not enough of a story to warrant Malick's poetic wanderings.  Like the many empty houses in the film, To the Wonder feels a little hollow, and all the musings on Love and the soul seem to echo flatly off the undecorated walls.

That being said, the film is still gorgeous.  As always, Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography is breathtaking.  His camera caresses the actors lovingly and chases them through fields of wheat.  Window light plays on bare walls.  The vistas of rural Texas are some of Malick's best and would make John Ford go back to the drawing board.  Every shot is perfectly composed and really makes me want to burn all my student films.  Malick and Lubezki are just frustratingly good.

Lubezki and Malick make the lead actors look beautiful, especially Olga Kurylenko.  Seriously, where did this girl come from?  When people ask me what my type is, I just point at a picture of her.  Wow...Sorry.  Anyway, I find it hard to believe that Ben Affleck's character, however cold and distant, could treat her so poorly.  She's innocent and beautiful and she loves him.  I haven't felt this angry at a Ben Affleck character since Gigli and, well, it's Gigli.  Marry her, dude.  Marry her and the movie's over.

While I found the love story unfulfilling, I did find Malick's view of contemporary America very fascinating.  This is Malick's most "European" film and it clearly takes an outsider's view of our lovely country.  Like Pocahontas in The New World, Kurylenko comes to a foreign land and finds herself lost.  The grandeur and beauty of France are juxtaposed wtih the flat Texas countryside. Instead of tall churches, there are tall power lines.  In America, Kurylenko and Affleck roll their shopping cart through a Wal-Mart.  The gaudy colors and garish packaging are placed in stark contrast to the vaulted majestic ceilings of a French cathedral.  Malick presents an America that has lost its majesty and is built on rotting soil.  Affleck's character works testing the ground for pollutants and makes some depressing discoveries.  The amber waves of grain have been poisoned.  While Malick does find much beauty in the American landscape, he clearly believes we are burning our own foundations.

In the end, it all comes down to Love. Our love for each other.  Our love for God and Country.  And, our love for our Environment.  As Javier Bardem's priest character says in the film, it is all connected.  It is all one Love and, though Malick looks at the dark side, he also presents the chance for redemption.  The end feeling is one of hope and resurrection.  Overall, the film is disappointing, but this sense of redemption is encouraging.  Maybe a bitter old couple can hope for their love to rekindle and, as Bardem preaches, "transform into something higher."  Here's hoping.