Terrence Malick’s films explore classic American themes, capturing the contradictions and inevitable loss of innocence in a country whose history is rooted in both violent conflict and eternal optimism. Like his characters, Malick is always looking for transcendence, and his films are astonishingly beautiful, evoking the days of silent cinema. Marked by crystalline precision, Malick’s images are among the most indelible in contemporary American cinema. Each of his movies is a major event, and the release of his latest, The Tree of Life, offers an opportunity to look at his first four feature films, on the big screen. The viewer may be inspired to remember these words spoken by a private in The Thin Red Line: “I’ve seen another world.”