Terrence Malick has never made a Christmas film, but I think his films, collectively, have a lot to say to us as we meditate on the meaning of Advent. Before you groan and say, "here McCracken goes about Malick again," let me explain.
At it's core, Advent is a season in limbo, in between the first and second comings of Jesus. It's a season about eschatological longing as much as it is about nostalgic joy for the Incarnation of God as man. It's about longing for and awaiting the coming kingdom, the restoration of creation to a state of shalom and fully realized glory. A key word is "restoration," for within the mystery of Advent is a deeply felt longing and remembrance of that original Eden, so long ago lost and yet made possible again in Christ.
In many ways, Advent is about existing in between two paradises. One lost. One still to come. Both are ever present in the believer's consciousness, as persistent reminders of fallenness intermingle with persistent, grace-filled interjections of hope. And it is here that I think Malick's cinematic vision has much to offer.
Consider The Tree of Life, which very literally depicts an original paradise (at least the creation of it) and a eschatological one (which, even if just a reverie or dream, is still very much an eschatological vision of Shalom restored). The Bible begins and ends with the "Tree of Life" (in Eden and in the Revelation 22 New Jerusalem), and in many ways the film echoes this bookended structure, with the middle section being the story of existence--struggling between sin/nature and redemption/grace--writ small in a tiny Texas town. In Tree of Life, Malick's characters experience that Advent tension between darkness and innocence lost on one hand and a coming reconciliation/restoration of goodness on the other.
Malick's other films reflect similar themes. In Badlands, Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek play Adam/Eve type characters who "fall" and are banished from Eden, shamed in their fallenness and yet curiously moved by the beauty of life around them, even on the run. Days of Heavenfeatures similar themes of shamed sinners in search of redemptive paradise and a fresh start in the picturesque wheat fields of West Texas. In The Thin Red Line, Witt (Jim Caviezel) opens the film in paradise, on tropical beaches and indigo blue waters in Papau New Guinea. But then the reality of sin sets in, and war and death; everything is changed, and yet Witt still sees a spark of glory. The film ends with images of Witt once again in paradise, and the rest of the soldiers on a boat leaving the horrors of Guadalcanal, heading to some new shores of a better world.
Malick's next film, The New World, picks up that image by opening with colonists on a boat, landing on the shores of Jamestown, Virginia: the New World. But as with Malick's other films, the Edenic idealism of this "new beginning" paradise is disrupted soon by famine, war, and a romance between John Smith and Pocahontas that doesn't last. And yet as the film goes on, something keeps pushing Pocahontas on, in spite of great shame and hardship. Glimpses of glory call her forth, giving her reasons to hope; perhaps the best is indeed still to come.
An inherent aching for Eden persists in each of Malick's films, as each character instinctively strives for a fresh start in the midst of our brokenness. Indeed, I think every human feels this. Time and time again we fail, and yet some animating spirit of good keeps us on track, keeps us striving for the best, between the two trees.
This is what Advent is about: a hope that keeps us going, keeps us exploring, creating, cultivating, loving, making order out of chaos. It's the lingering instinct of our created purpose; it's the impact of the Incarnation: the Divine Creator come down to creation to redeem mankind and succeed where Adam failed, providing an example of humanity as it was created to be.
If Easter is about Jesus' death and resurrection, Advent is about the curious thing that happened next. Jesus didn't stay on earth to rule his kingdom. He ascended unto heaven and left his followers—the church, animated by the Holy Spirit—to carry the torch of kingdom work, to long and ache for Jesus' promised return but in the meantime to strive to be the humans we were meant to be, to spread the good news, to resist evil, to order creation and bring about flourishing.
Like Adam before us, and Noah, and Abraham and Israel, followers of Jesus are called to bring light to the darkness; to spread the illumination like in those candle light Christmas Eve services of our youth; or like that little blue candle and mysterious wispy flame in The Tree of Life. It's Ruach. The Spirit of God. Reminding us of hope, empowering us to carry on.