A visual wonder.

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2007)

Darren Aronofsky's film is a visual wonder which much like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey leaves you to come to your own conclusions. Hugh Jackman stars as Tom, one man who basically has the same desire across the three periods that the film covers in the film. Rachel Weisz is his lover across all these. The focal point is the middle point which appears to be the reality.
The film opens with Tom as a Conquistador preparing for one last battle to get to the Tree of Life at the top of a Mayan Temple. His men abandon him at the last moment when they are ambushed by the Mayans guarding the temple. They are cut down by spears. Tom alone brazenly attacks the Mayans putting up a good fight before being cut down. But he is not killed. They force him to go up the steps of the temple to face their "priest." He slowly approaches the "priest" with a dagger that wasn't stripped from him in the struggle below. It doesn't help him as is stabbed in the stomach and falls to his knees. The film cuts from there as "priest" appears to cut him down with a blazing sword. Tom is now in space, in a bubble, flying through the stars. In the bubble is what appears to be the Tree of Life. He appears to meditating above it, floating. He cares for it and talks to it as if it were a living being, a close companion. He sees what appears to be a vision of Izzi, telling him to finish it. It is here that we cut to what appears to me to be the key point. We jump to the middle point which is modern times, or close to it. Tom is working at a desk and telling Izzi he is working on it. She leaves and just as Tom is going after her, he is called by a lab assistant to work on the patient. It is then revealed that he working on a cure for cancer, experimenting with monkeys. He is working vigorously on this because his wife, Izzi, has cancer and he refuses to lose her. "Death is a disease. There is a cure. And I will find it." This Tom declares.
Hugh Jackman offers an amazing performance as Conquistador, doctor, and monk/spaceman in this film which spans centuries, but we are never really sure what is real. I could feel his characters anguish and frustration at not being able to help his wife and his growing obsession with finding the cure to death. Now I am not really sure who everything in the story connected, but I felt the growing point was about our inability to avoid death and that the greatest thing we can have on this earth at least according to this film is love. It is powerfully displayed visually in this film. It is a hard film to describe, but very much worth a viewing on the big screen. The score by Clint Mansell is incredible. The most memorable I have heard all year and the most beautiful. It captures the journey feel of the film.
The film is very much a heavy film if you were for its message and visual experience. It isn't a clear cut adventure film, but one which forces you to think. Based around the Biblical Tree of Life described in Genesis, I think it is one of the most original pieces of artistry I have seen in quite sometime, but definitely not for those looking for pure entertainment.