The Tree of Life.

Terence Mallick tries to capture the essence of spirituality on celluloid and almost succeeds. The film chronicles the origins and meaning of life, by way of a middle-aged man's childhood memories, of his family living in 1950s Texas, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the universe and the inception of life on Earth.

Jack (Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the mo

dern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life, while questioning the existence of faith. It is impossible to distil philosophy in a film, but it takes you back to your childhood days, re-igniting all those long lost first moments/feelings/discoveres and guilt’s.

The first time you fought with parents and friends, the remorse you felt later, the film blends all the above with imaginary scenes from the creation of the cosmos, how all is connected, how did we get here? Why? purpose of our lives? Mrs. O'Brien (Jessica Chastain) recalls a lesson taught to her that people must choose to either follow the path of grace or the path of nature.

In Vedanta the tree is a visual metaphor of the essence of our continuous evolution, growth and continuity. The tree symbolizes our roots with nature, yet reaching out for change, innovation and resilience. Change and growth is constant like the branches, taking us to newer heights.

Our roots give us identity and strength, to face adversity, the branches give shelter and succor to others in this universe. Whenever there is change, our roots and what we stand for will remain the same - but what we must aim for will rise to the higher realms. – Vinay-