Hopeless
Loved the film, left me with a profound sense of... something empty.
My immediate impression is that this is the story of man lost in the midst of paradise. We scrape the land but do not belong to it and 'know not what we do'.
"Kick a tree, lets take it out on them"
Abby leaving on a train of soldiers off to wreck some other part of God's earth.
The farmer burning his wheat.
Our little lives and passions seem of such insular importance, yet when viewed from outside the cocoon this is something the giant skies and endless wheat seems to belie. We lack a certain grandeur and majesty in our acts and there's a distant and enormous sense of pity and inevitability to it.
The story is told from the child's reflections - distant, broken up and with muted passion - but I guess Malick intends us to look beyond the notion that the past has created such a joyless child and note that she is but one more part of this endless brutal cycle - everyone eternally alienated from what they were meant to be.
I mean I'm not sure I agree with the point of view expressed and am by no means religious myself but I found the concept particularly arresting and thought provoking. The images of the burning fields will stay with me for a long time.
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Why did the women all seem like passengers to the passions and whims of men?
They seem to all be walking random paths chosen by others and even Abby who in the end makes a choice, chooses just to go with the men. share