The Problem of Evil and Humans’ Relationship with God in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life

"Beauty will save the world"- Fyodor Dostoevsky, The IdiotIntroductionTerrence Malick's 2011 film The Tree of Life defies any attempt to be summarized in a few pat sentences. The movie tackles significant theological issues as it tells the story of one man's journey to regain his faith after the loss of his beloved brother and a difficult relationship with his father. At the same time, it is also a film about humankind's relationship to God, and about the kind of life human beings should strive to lead. In this paper, I will discuss two of the film's main themes: Malick's response to the problem of evil (or, as it is also known, the problem of suffering) and his meditations concerning what kind of relationship humans should seek with God. In reference to the former, I will argue that, rather than trying to offer a theodicy (a justification for why God allows the innocent to suffer), Malick responds by placing the theistic argument from beauty in dialogue with the problem of evil. However, instead of using the former as an argument in favor of God's existence, Malick uses a universe impregnated with beauty to relate to his viewers on a transrational level. That is, rather than attempting to explain or justify suffering, Malick assures us of God's presence not through philosophical argumentation but through the use of images and music, and by showcasing the majesty of creation. Indeed, Malick seems to want his films to "be experienced viscerally before they are understood cognitively."1In relation to the second theme, I will argue that Malick seeks to criticize the way many individuals relate to God - as a being of unquestionable authority who seeks our categorical allegiance rather than as a person who wants us to engage Him in difficult questions about human existence. The former relationship with God results in a deity disengaged from our lives, whereas encouraging a relationship with God that admits of questioning and strife draws us much closer to Him. Indeed, the two persons who most question God throughout the film are the ones who are rewarded with a meaningful communion with Him. Ultimately, The Tree of Life has inspired deep spiritual contemplation in many of its viewers (myself included). Film critic Roger Ebert, who regards it as one of the ten greatest films of all time, has described it as "a form of prayer. [A film that creates] a spiritual awareness, and [makes its audience] more alert to the awe of existence."2Job reinterpreted: The Tree of Life's response to the problem of evilThe recent events at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, when a gunman broke into the school and massacred 20 small children and 6 staff members, reignites the theist's despair when reconciling the belief in an almighty, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God with the existence of profound and undeserved suffering. And yet, while apologists continue to offer different theodicies in an attempt to defend theism (e.g., Alvin Plantinga's free will defense3 or John Hick's soul-making theodicy4), such attempts to justify evil or suffering seem increasingly vulgar. Nick Trakakis writes that "in the presence of burning children, the declarations of theodicists are shown to be not merely morally confused, but morally scandalous."5 Helen De Cruz agrees with Trakakis:Theodicies should not only offer a solution to the abstract problem, but should withstand scrutiny in the face of concrete, horrible instances of evil, and it seems that in concrete cases, theodicies do not fare well. For it is one thing to argue that God did not intend the world as a pleasure-garden, but a challenging place fit for spiritual growth (as Hick proposed), quite another to maintain this in the face of concrete instances of evil.6Malick echoes similar concerns in the first act of The Tree of Life. The very first scene establishes the dichotomy that permeates the rest of the film. As John Tavener's hauntingly beautiful "Funeral Canticle" plays in the background, Mrs. …