I saw the movie The Tree of Life recently and thought about it. This probably won’t make sense if you haven’t seen the movie; you should see it.
I feel like the references to God were a parallel to the way the older boy felt and talked about his Father. Saying things like “Why should we be good when you aren’t?” to me pertains very much to God as well. Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Why does god ask of us to be good when he isn’t?
The answer, “maybe because he’s not there” is never really posed in the film, other than to show that the father isn’t in control either. So I feel like the creation and religious sequences are connected to the main narrative, but for me it did feel like it was missing that answer. After all, there was no God for Dinosaurs no God in the creation of the stars and universe that was being shown, it took humans to create the concept.
Another reason the Dinosaurs and Galaxies feel a bit out of place next to the religious and family drama is that those sequences were expanded from an earlier film by the director called Days of Heaven about the creation of the universe that was never finished.
As for the story it was a story told in a different manner than I’ve seen it told before. It was like seeing into someone’s memories in flashes, I thought it was a beautiful way to tell a story.
Also I think this movie was based on the director’s life so it should be seen as self indulgent as any autobiography would.