The Tree of Life

Name: The Tree of Life
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Released: 1988-09-30
Rating: 3.6

DramaFantasy23m

🍅86%

🍅

86%

Tomatometer

🍿

60%

Popcornmeter

3.6

TMDB

Storyline

In a small town, a nomad cuts down a tree he needs to use. However, he accidentally chops down the wrong tree, felling the tree that sustains life itself. When the latter tree falls, all life disappears. The nomad then finds himself in the middle of a desert that he does not recognize, and he tries to work his way out of it. During this particular quest, he comes across a small tree that is in the process of dying and opts instead to save this one.

Details

DirectorAbdulkadir Ahmed Said

ReleasedSep 30, 1988

Budget

Not disclosed

Revenue

Not disclosed

Reviews

8 reviews · 7 critics

6 fresh · 1 rotten

Critics consensus

“Terrence Malick's singularly deliberate style may prove unrewarding for some, but for patient viewers, Tree of Life is an emotional as well as visual treat.”

86% TomatometerRotten Tomatoes

Adam Kempenaar

RTFilmspottingJun 21, 2026

...the shadows of kids playing... upside down... like so many images in the film, it's life like we've always seen it, except like we've never seen it before. It's familiar but somehow alien.

Adam Nayman

RTThe RingerApr 6, 2020

Malick's earnest pretentiousness surely invites derisive laughter. But it also withstands it, and like the ancient evergreen of its title, it towers benevolently over less ambitious movies...

Amy Taubin

RTFilm Comment MagazineAug 27, 2019

The Tree of Life in no way measured up.

Ray Pride

RTNewcityOct 4, 2025

If you work with a camera that is autonomous and distracted,as Malick does, with promiscuous principal photography that works from inspiration and not text... the meaning gets layered in selection, the decisive moment is then in the edit, not in shooting.