films-about-evolution

"Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life is a film of vast ambition and deep humility, attempting no less than to encompass all of existence and view it through the prism of a few infinitesimal lives. The only other film I've seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it lacked Malick's fierce evocation of human feeling. … I don't know when a film has connected more immediately with my own personal experience. In uncanny ways, the central events of The Tree of Life reflect a time and place I lived in, and the boys in it are me. If I set out to make an autobiographical film, and if I had Malick's gift, it would look so much like this. … There is a father who maintains discipline and a mother who exudes forgiveness, and long summer days of play and idleness and urgent unsaid questions about the meaning of things. … The film's portrait of everyday life, inspired by Malick's memories of his hometown of Waco, Texas, is bounded by two immensities, one of space and time, and the other of spirituality. The Tree of Life has awe-inspiring visuals suggesting the birth and expansion of the universe, the appearance of life on a microscopic level and the evolution of species. This process leads to the present moment, and to all of us. We were created in the Big Bang and over untold millions of years, molecules formed themselves into, well, you and me. And what comes after? In whispered words near the beginning, "nature" and "grace" are heard. … The film's coda provides a vision of an afterlife, a desolate landscape on which quiet people solemnly recognize and greet one another, and all is understood in the fullness of time."

"Laramie Eppler - R.L. O'Brien"

"Tye Sheridan - Steve"

"Kari Matchett - Jack's ex"

"Joanna Going - Jack's wife"

"Michael Showers - Mr. Brown"

"Kimberly Whalen - Mrs. Brown"

"Jackson Hurst - Uncle Roy"

"Fiona Shaw - Grandmother"

"Crystal Mantecón - Elisa"

"Tamara Jolaine - Mrs. Stone"

"Dustin Allen - George Walsh"

"Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation ... while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

"Brother. Mother. It was they who led me to your door."

"How did you come to me, in what shape, what disguise?"

"The nuns taught us there are two ways through life … the way of Nature… and the way of Grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow. Grace doesn't try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy... when all the world is shining around it... when love is smiling through all things. They taught us that no one who loves the way of grace... ever comes to a bad end. I will be true to you. Whatever comes."

"My hope. My God. What did you gain?"

"Okay, go on now. We're all right. We're all right."

"If you're looking for something to happen, that was it. That was life. You lived it."

"Brad Pitt - Mr. O'Brien"

"Sean Penn - Jack O'Brien"

"Hunter McCracken - young Jack"

"Jessica Chastain - Mrs. O'Brien"

"Let's shampoo us some aliens!!"

"[during the second expedition to the meteorite cavern, to Ira about Dr. Reed] All she needs is a good humping. [mocks Reed while "demonstrating" sex] Oh Ira! I-i-i-i-ra ...OOOH IRA!"

"Have a nice end of the world."

"Coming to wipe that silly smile off your planet."

"David Duchovny - Dr. Ira Kane"

"Julianne Moore - Dr. Allison Reed, CDC"

"Orlando Jones - Prof. Harry Phineas Block"

"Seann William Scott - Wayne Grey"

"Ted Levine - General Russell Woodman"

"Dan Aykroyd - Governor Lewis"

"Allow me to share something with the entire class. Last night as I was grading papers, I came across two gems both entitled "Cells are Bad" and both with just one paragraph which I unfortunately committed to memory: "Cells are bad. My uncle lives in a cell. It's ten foot by twelve and he has to read the same old, boring magazine everyday. The end". And although my standards are nowhere near where they used to be, I still could not bring myself to put an "A" on top of those beauties. I hope you understand, guys."