Terrence Malick is not an easy filmmaker to wrap your head around. In a career spanning four decades, he’s only directed five films (for you those of you who aren’t math wizzes, that works out to a film every 8 years – he’s like the antithesis of Woody Allen!). His work is often beautiful, meditative, obtuse, measured, and surreal. From the American farmland of Days of Heaven to the blood-soaked battlefields of The Thin Red Line to the savage, unexplored landscapes of The New World, Malick is certainly diverse in his choice of canvases.

His latest film, which recently won the coveted Palme d’Or (the European equivalent of Best Picture), called The Tree of Life, opens in limited release this weekend (although it will probably expand to a city near you in the coming weeks). It stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn and details the life of a mid-century, 11-year old boy as he struggles to reconcile the diverse worldviews of his two parents. Although not for everyone (Malick is, if nothing else, an acquired taste), the film is sure to deal with the meaning of faith and purpose and life. Check out the trailer below.

Also, I have a gorgeous, double-sided copy of the movie poster to give away to one Beliefnet reader over my twitter feed! (yup, that pretty, colorful one right up there) First person to send me a message through Twitter gets it. By the way, I regularly give things away over Twitter, so if you’re not following me, you should! So many goodies to give away…

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