Terrence Malick Beyond Nature and Grace: Song to Song and the Experience of Forgiveness

Authors

Elisa Zocchi, University of MünsterFollow

Abstract

In The Tree of Life Terrence Malick poses the question of the relation between the order of grace and the order of nature in the cosmos and in human existence, a question presented through the relation of mother and father in the O'Brien family. The aim of this article is to analyze this issue and to present the role of glory in The Tree of Life as the transfiguration of nature operated by grace. Specifically, the example of forgiveness as one strand of this glory seems to be an helpful tool to understand the movie. Forgiveness, already present in The Tree of Life, becomes particularly important then in Song to Song. I will present this movie as an exemplar analysis of the human soul and of the capacity of forgiveness to draw the soul close to the eternal, as already happening in The Tree of Life. Underlining the relationship between forgiveness, sacrifice and glory will help to understand both the continuity between the two movies and the specificity of Song to Song.

Recommended Citation

Zocchi, Elisa (2018) "Terrence Malick Beyond Nature and Grace: Song to Song and the Experience of Forgiveness," Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 22: Iss. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol22/iss2/3