[Meghan Florian] Kierkegaard, Malick, and the Soul in Need
We’re delighted to welcome Meghan Florian back to ProfligateGrace.com, this time with a commentary on Terrence Malick’s _To the Wonder_. Thank you, Meghan, for this wonderful (sic) piece!
Terrence Malick’s new film, To the Wonder — haunting, beautiful, and at times troubling — was the last film Roger Ebert ever reviewed. In his review, he noted that the film leaves a great deal up to the viewer; motivations are often unclear, and the plot offer no clear pattern. Instead Malick paints a landscape of wide open spaces, shifting light, and endless skies, beneath which dance troubled people, longing for connection, trying to love one another, and failing again and again. Malick gives us none of the Hollywood romance we’re accustomed to. Instead, he depicts the failures of human love, interwoven with the transformation of divine love. The characters Malick creates can, arguably, be most clearly understood in light of a Kierkegaardian love ethic. I like to think of To the Wonder as Works of Love: The Movie. Read more
