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Subject: "the theology behind To the Wonder:" Previous topic | Next topic
will_5198
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Wed Aug-07-13 11:40 AM

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31. "the theology behind To the Wonder:"
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http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/terrence-malick-theologian-the-intimidating-exhilarating-religiosity-of-the-tree-of-life-and-to-the-wonder

"...This is due, in large part, to Malick's apparent biblical model this time out. For The Tree of Life, it's the Book of Job, a big, bold, dramatic text. To the Wonder, by contrast, seems to take its inspiration from the Song of Songs, a leaner and more lyrical text.

The mood of the film shifts mercurially as presence shifts to absence: "In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not," laments the woman in the Song of Songs, "I will rise, and will go about the city: in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not" (3:1-2).

The desperate repetition of the refrain is echoed not only in the melancholic behavior of Olga Kurylenko as she misses Ben Affleck during their times of separation, but also in the mournful acknowledgment by Javier Bardem that his faith in God's love has been weakened, if not lost.

Malick is actively reflecting on the theological meaning of one of the Old Testament's strangest, most elusive—if brief and pleasurable—books. He is asking no smaller or less significant a question here than, what is the nature of love—what is the substance of it? Is the love that animates the bodies of lovers, that provokes such inexplicable despair in the absence of the other's form, the same love that binds man to God and God to his creations?

One need not believe to find the negotiation of these ideas fascinating, even exhilarating, especially when guided by Malick's singular poetic precision and uncommon thoughtfulness."

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To the Wonder (Malick, 2013) [View all] , ZooTown74, Wed Dec-19-12 11:40 AM
 
Subject Author Message Date ID
Let me get my hate out of the way: TERRIBLE title, lol.
Dec 19th 2012
1
Many have tried, few have conquered...n/m
Dec 19th 2012
4
Huh?
Dec 19th 2012
5
      You're right. Read quick & missed your point.
Dec 19th 2012
8
      lmao we became the watched
Dec 21st 2012
11
I agree with all of this
Dec 19th 2012
9
Can't wait for this, but the mixed reviews have me apprehensive...
Dec 19th 2012
2
favorite working director
Dec 19th 2012
3
+1
Dec 20th 2012
10
Jount look like the Final Fantasy 8 intro CGI cutscene.
Dec 19th 2012
6
I don't know if I can see this...
Dec 19th 2012
7
give his cinematographer an award right now..lol
Dec 21st 2012
12
Lucky enough to catch an advance screening of this..
Mar 31st 2013
13
It was alright
Apr 01st 2013
14
For anyone interested, this hits OnDemand and iTunes today...
Apr 12th 2013
15
gotta say, as much as I love seeing flicks in theaters I might try this
Apr 12th 2013
16
I'll be trying that out this weekend
Apr 13th 2013
17
Olga Kurylenko
Apr 13th 2013
18
Seriously
Apr 13th 2013
19
Pro: Emmanuel Lubetzki. Con: everything else.
Apr 14th 2013
20
is this another lyrical film poem?
Apr 14th 2013
21
      Yeah.
Apr 14th 2013
22
      In theory, this film is about love, yes.
Apr 14th 2013
23
           Perception is a funny thing...
Apr 15th 2013
24
                The first twenty minutes or so were the best part.
Apr 15th 2013
25
Malick's most obtusely poetic movie yet.
Apr 30th 2013
26
Yep. All of this.
Apr 30th 2013
27
      He didn't say he almost walked out the theater though...
May 01st 2013
28
           Yeah, I read Ebiri fairly regularly...
May 01st 2013
29
           in that case, Bardem's self-evangelism seems even more shoehorned in
May 01st 2013
30
Thanks for posting that. Interesting take.
Aug 07th 2013
32
      People just love to hate on Malick
Aug 07th 2013
33

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