Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is a hugely ambitious picture that not only deals with a family’s life here on earth, but the creation of our own and the beiiefs, religious or secular, we grasp as the clear and definite truth. The scope of Malick’s film is transcendental to our culture. · The film begins a child’s death and a family’s struggle to grasp this grievous concept. We see them look back at life and how their relationships with one another has grown or decreased over the years. The family is upheld by two parents. The mother represents Grace, the kind and loving side of life, while the father represents Nature, the mentality that you must get ahead and do whatever you can to survive in this dog eat dog world of ours. We see the children having to decide what side of life they want. The main character, Jack, struggles with these natures. He does not know which one to take hold of. The film jumps from his childhood to present times, where