This was a very nostalgic movie. I think it reminded any of us who grew up in the 80's or before of our childhood, before TV and video games and Facebook. The playing outside almost all day and evening. The tree houses and kicking the can and everything the brothers did together. It was surreal in how it took you back to your younger days.
The lack of dialogue was odd at first, but that is how life is. Life is mostly just action and very little talking. The boredom of the movie told the story of life perfectly, that most of life is just boring. Things just are. Not too many exciting things happen in a normal week. The main boy snuck into his neighbor's house. His parents had a fight in the kitchen. His dad was a tyrant somewhat as a dad, but he didn't severely beat his kids or wife, that we know of. He had a temper problem for sure though. It seemed the movie was him processing if his dad was a good dad or a bad dad. I suppose we all have asked ourselves that question many times.
Why did the son die? It may have been to show generational curses. The sins of the father are visited on his children, meaning children can be punished for their father's sins. What sins did the father commit? It seems that he was a cheater, a possible wife beater and God knows what other things.
The movie was filmed in Waco, which is ironically only 2 hours north of where I raised my girls for 7 years. It is a lovely area of the country. The waterfalls and swimming areas and green grass and trees are so beautiful. It told the story I think of how we all were raised. There were happy memories and sad ones. Our parents weren't perfect, but we still loved them and wanted to be with them whenever we could. They hurt us and we hurt them, but in the end we all still cared about each other.
The most powerful line was when the main boy said to his dad, "It's your house. You can kick me out if you want. You wish you could kill me." His father was mad, but he didn't say, "That's not true." That was kind of sad.
To me the entire movie was like the Oedipus complex that I learned about in college, where supposedly every boy wants to kill his father and marry his mother. That is how things go in many families, I guess, maybe under the surface. It seemed the oldest boy had a growing crush on his mom. At one point he yells to his dad, "She only loves me!" There was something odd with him and the younger brother. The way the father forced the oldest son to hug him seemed odd. I wondered the whole time if someone was being molested and who was molesting who.
The movie was like an ink blot test possibly. We all see what our childhood was like in the movie. It was a movie that told everyone's story, in some way.
The final scene was supposed to be heaven, I thought. The family is reunited, and everyone is happy to see each other. The drama is gone, and they all love each other again. It is a nice reminder that someday we will be with those we love again. Goodbyes are never forever. I don't get why heaven was so bleak though. I think the writer was Catholic, so his view of heaven must be very austere. I see heaven as being full of joy, love, fun times and blissful, like in the movie What Dreams May Come. I suppose we all have our own thought of what heaven will be like.
I did not get the beginning, except that he was attempting to show how the universe and earth were created. I suppose he wanted to show that evolution was not how things were made, and that God was the great designer of every complex thing that is alive.
Good job overall on the movie to those who made it. I hope the writer and director will make more movies, especially more somewhat Christian based movies.
(Next time make the talking louder. The whispers were hard to hear. 😃)
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