Pitt's Character was Correct in his Actions

It's been awhile since I saw the film, but is the message there implying that that brand of parenting should be considered "wrong?"

I don't think it was his parenting style that he was necessarily incorrect in, but rather his ego, his desire to be great. He wanted to force his kids to love and revere him and everyone else to look up to him. That's why at one point he says; "I wanted to be loved because I was great; A big man. I'm nothing." He just needed to be humbled a bit.

Another way to look at it is that he was not incorrect at all, but rather just represented a side of humanity that eternally struggles with the side represented by the mother; nature vs. grace, as Jack at one point seems to suggest; "Mother, father, always you wrestle inside me, always you will." The father's side is then the one we would rather overcome yet cannot escape from as the world indeed can be harsh and cruel.

I think Pitt's character had every best intention for his kids by acting that way, but maybe he crossed the line a little too much. He didn't understand how young and sensitive his boys were. With tough parenting strategies, I think you have to have a good judgment on whether or not it's working with them. You can't be too tough otherwise your kids will just start to despise you. But at the same time, of course kids aren't going to be liked being disciplined and to stop having fun and prepare for the harsh realities of the real world. It's a fine art disciplining children, but sometimes you really have to become the bad guy and be really tough on them. So I don't think his character was wrong, or psychotic or unloving or anything like that.

I've never seen anything terribly wrong with Pitt's character myself, but that's really not the point. The opening lines of the film lay out the symbolism behind Pitt's and Chastain's characters. The mother represents the way of grace and those who follow the way of grace never come to a bad end (so the opening narration claims). The father represents the way nature. The father is supposed to be hard and unforgiving just like nature. Malick is not trying to say the father's actions are right or wrong. That is irrelevant. The father is merely a symbol. He represents human nature and the nature of the world and that's how we should view him, not as a father or authority figure.

"There are too many of them. Can't kill the world."

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