"Tree" reflection blog #1

After Friday's class, my perception of the film had been completely turned upside down. At first I knew that the movie had a plot; it was that a son in the family had died at the age of 19 and the family was coping with it, as shown through the three boys' childhood experiences. But now I'm starting to think its not about the family coping as much as it is about Sean Penn/ Jack coping. Friday's class we watched the third scene when Sean Penn wakes up from a sort of dream and goes to work. That particular day, I think, was the anniversary of his brother's death. He was apologizing to his dad on the phone, even though he seems alone in this "modern" world of empty houses and office buildings. But then it jumped to him being placed in his childhood home, stroking his mother's face while his father sat on the couch in the back just staring from afar.
That, combined with the dream/ walking through the door in the desert made me think that this movie is more about Jack coping with his brother's loss, rather than the whole family. He had the two conflicting sides of nature and grace in him during his childhood. But as an adult, he doesn't display either of those sides; he's not acting out and being violent like he was in his childhood, nor is he being graceful like his mother and brother were. This makes me think that he's trying to get back to his deceased brother in order to reconnect with grace. Does he need some sort of closure? Maybe like a mid-life crisis?  He could be searching for answers about his own life (like what I assume happens during a mid-life crisis), and he must think that by following the path of grace he can get to where he needs to be. But I still don't know where exactly that is.