Two days ago I saw The Tree of Life, and it's still in my head. The movie's quote from the Book of Job in the Old Testament made me think of another movie from just a few years ago, A Serious Man, that I also associate with that biblical book. I did some prowling around the internet to refresh my memory of A Serious Man and noted that, although critics often referred to the central character as a modern day Job, the Coen Brothers deny they were consciously referencing that story.
The story of Job is of a righteous man who is subjected to great suffering. This mystery of why bad things happening to good people is a question that has perplexed religious thinkers for hundreds of years, and that theme is an important element of The Tree of Life but not the only one. The movie examines the harshness of nature in contrast to spiritual grace and also the inter-relationship of all living things. In its own way, it may be the most religious movie I've ever seen.
Last night I napped in front of the TV which at the time happened to be showing The Da Vinci Code, a much inferior movie than the other two, and at one point I awoke to see a biblical verse shown on screen. The verse was Job 38:11. Apparently, movie makers of recent years are obsessed with that book over all the others in the Bible.
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