Lack Of Humanity In 'To The Wonder' Means Less Wonder

I'll be honest: most of the time, I rather enjoy negative reviews. And unless they're local or very small films, I generally don't feel guilty about tearing them apart. They say a critic is a person who goes out onto the battlefield after a battle is over. Well, the battle is never over when it comes to bad movies, and bad art in general.

But this is one I feel somber about, since “To The Wonder” will hold an esteemed place with me regardless of its merits (or lack of them), due to it being the last film to be reviewed by the late, great, Roger Ebert, one that he appreciated very much. And I can see why he would. But alas, this might be one of the only times where I feel bad about disagreeing.

Director and writer Terence Malick also clearly had lofty, admirable goals that of course have to do with the spiritual as well as the natural world and how man relates to them. It's a portrait of souls in desperate need of sustenance, locked in a perpetual state of desperation.

As “To The Wonder” begins, we see our beautiful couple in Paris, Neil (Ben Affleck), and Marina (Olga Kurylenko of “Oblivion”) in a state of relationship bliss that's somewhat tainted by the voiceovers that speak of their relationship in the past tense. Before long, Neil asks Marina and her daughter to come to his home in Oklahoma to live with him. They enthusiastically accept, and almost immediately feel out of place once they get there.

Not only that, it's soon apparent that even though Neil is a very loving man who is an excellent father figure to Marina's daughter, he can't or won't give the free-spirited Marina (really, really free-spirited, she actually dances and twirls while grocery shopping) the love she desperately needs. Even Marina's daughter, who clearly adores Neil and doesn't mind having him for a stepfather, soon knows that something is missing.

When Marina and Neil inevitably separate, Marina returns to Paris, while Neil rekindles a relationship with an old flame named Jane (Rachel McAdams). When that fails, Marina returns to Oklahoma (apparently Paris isn't good enough for her without Neil) and Marina and Neil reconnect and restart.

Orbiting them all is the priest Father Quintana, played by the sometimes out of place but still excellent Javier Bardem, whose sermons are a kind of narration of what holds the characters back. But he has his own problems. He visits the sick, the imprisoned, the poor, and the suffering, but he himself can no longer feel or connect with God and the love He is supposed to grace the faithful with.

But in a movie like this, things like character are secondary to the philosophies and questions that Malick wants to explore. Even so, I wish there were more interesting characters to do that with. Jane is clearly the more interesting one who is perfectly at home in her environment. Her presence and why she is drawn to Neil needs no explanation. But it is too difficult to see why Marina is so drawn to Neil and their relationship when Neil is clearly not enough for her.

And even a skeptic like myself can appreciate films like “Life Of Pi” and “The Tree Of Life.” So it's not because of my beliefs that I say that “To The Wonder” contains too much of the spiritual. No matter what your beliefs on that score, sooner or later you have to acknowledge that you live in the world of the flesh, and there simply isn't enough humanity in these two lovers.

Fans of Terence Malick will love this movie, and even non-fans can maybe appreciate it. And Malick scores some major points by turning what would in any other hands be a bleak, depressing environment into a place of beauty. He's also right that most people allow human drama to overwhelm the world's natural treasures and we tend to take them for granted. But it's something we've been shown before. And when there's not enough of humanity for a connection, a movie that's all about the soul can feel strangely lifeless.

Grade: C+