What Does The Ending Of The Tree Of Life Really Mean?

Now, with this context in mind, let's talk about the ending. The older Jack, now an architect, is travelling up in an elevator where he works. We then see Jack walking through in a desert landscape, following his younger self to a beach where he encounters all the people in his life, including his mother and father. We had seen the image of Jack in the desert landscape earlier in the film, foreshadowing this ending. I think this beach scene, while not necessarily heaven, represents some form of the afterlife, where Jack and his father can finally reconcile and be at peace.

What's also important to note is that before Jack gets to the beach we hear his voiceover say "Guide us... until the end of time." We then see the sun engulfing the Earth, suggesting the end of the world. Earlier in the film we saw the creation of the universe. Just how 2001 began with the dawn of man and ended with the next step of evolution with the starchild, in The Tree of Life, we see the beginning and end of the universe. The beach scene could be taking place at the end of time, with the beach being a final meeting place for departed souls.

If we are to view the film as coming from Jack's mind - his memories, even - then we can interpret this ending as a vision Jack is experiencing, either by his own doing, or as the result of some spiritual ephinany. I don't think Jack is literally dead in this sequence, since Malick never suggests that Jack is ill. Also, earlier in the film we see Jack talking on the phone with his father, but his father appears on the beach, further suggests that this is a vision Jack is experiencing rather than a literal afterlife. Moreover, Jack also sees his younger self, which also gives it a feeling of a personal vision.

After the vision ends, we are inside the elevator, as it goes down, and the camera pulls back from the tree we saw frequently in the O'Brien's yard, in the 1950s scenes. For me, these are visual signifiers of coming out of the vision, and returning to the present. Jack appears to be stumbling outside, almost as he's just returned from an out of body experience. He smiles, the only time we see the older Jack smile in the film, and it suggests a certain comfort that has taken over Jack - he knows things will be okay. One of the final images of the film is a bridge, which can be taken to symbolize the bridge between this world and the next, which Jack has crossed, if only briefly.

The final image of the film, which began the film and is witnessed throughout, is the mysterious orange light. It is Thomas Wilfred's lumia, a work of art created by light with the help of a color organ, entitled Opus 161. The light is said to be a flame and has been interpreted as the holy spirit. I've even read people interpet it as the eye of God.

With either of these interpretations, the fact they the religious connotations are relevent to this film. The characters in the film are constantly questioning God, particularly young Jack. When a boy drowns in a swimming pool, young Jack asks God in voiceover why He let the boy die and why he should be a good person if God isn't.

The film begins with a passage from the Book of Job: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" In the Bible, Job was a successful farmer whom Satan, with the permission of God, sent into misfortune to test his faith in God. While at first Job does not get mad at God, when he finally does curse God, God speaks to Job and tells him he does not know everything about the creation of the Earth and that he should trust that God has a plan.

The beach scene can be viewed as Jack's realization of what is to come, after the painfulness of life. The final image of the light reminds us of the opening passage and of Job. It reminds those with faith to trust that there may actually be a plan in place, even if we're not aware of it. I'm not a religous person, but this is just be trying to interpret things from that point of view.

So, chime in with your thoughts on the ending and the film itself, as well as how you think it relates to Malick's other films.