A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

Summary

This was a lovely movie. 5/5 stars.

I was thinking of selecting a movie to watch from the National Film Registry. I first was on a tangent, searching google for people's opinions about the movies listed on the registry. This led me to a reddit comment which recommended this movie which is on the registry.

I read this part only of the reddit commend and no further, and immediately shut my laptop and decided to watch this movie:

"The other notable one is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. If you summarized the plot to me beforehand, I would have thought it would be terribly dull [...]"

Only now after having finished watching the movie have I read the rest of the comment:

"... and not at all the sort of movie I would like. It turned out to be one of the most emotionally moving movies I've ever seen, and is now one of my all-time favourites. It's why I think it's so important to keep an open mind about things, because you never know what you'll like and will change your life.

I'm not going to make a claim about it being my favorite or anything like that, but I did feel emotionally moved by it. It was touching. It showed the life of a family. Nothing too extreme or dramatic. Almost like a slice of life, but not in a boring or uneventful way. Showing the emotional ups and downs of life. Those emotions are the biggest things to those people living them. It was a relaxing movie but I was engaged with it the whole time, never bored. Always wondering what's going to happen next, how they will movie forward, how the characters will change and grow. Maybe these are obvious and kind of generic things to say about a story, but it's those core elements that make something so engaging, I think. The simplest story can be powerful with good writing (and good acting/directing).

Title

I think that by writing here, this will actually help me process this aspect.

The title is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". It's obvious which tree the title refers to. There's a tree that the family can see out their window, but one day the city worker cuts it down (or at least trims it substantially). The girl expresses melancholy at this to her father. Her father, always turning things to a positive light, tells her that the stump is still there and that it will grow back. That no one planted the tree in that cement - that it grew there on its own, despite the cement, and pushed through, and became what it became (something worthy and beautiful).

He says:

"Now wait a minute. They didn't kill it. They couldn't kill that tree. Well, sure, baby, don't tell me that tree's gonna lie down and die that easy. Look at that tree. See where it's coming from? Right up out of the cement. Didn't nobody plant it. It didn't ask the cement could it grow. It just couldn't help growing so much it pushed that old cement right out of the way. And when you're busting with something like that, can't anybody help it. Like that little old bird up there. Listen to her. He didn't ask anybody could he sing. And he certainly didn't take any lessons. He's so full of singing, it's his cut to bust out someplace. Why, they could cut that old tree right down to the ground, and a root would push up someplace else in the cement. You wait till spring, Prima Donna^[1], and you'll see."

This dialogue obviously corresponds to the title, and generally to the situations in the story. I interpret it as the family struggling to make their way through life, and whatever obstacles they must push through, they will be able to make it through, simply because that's their name (perhaps the nature of all people). To make your way in the world even despite struggle. Even if they face a large obstacle (like the tree getting cut down -- or the father's death) there will be another chance for growth and improvement (seen at the end of the movie).

Notes

Some random moments I wanted to note down:

• Scene where the father plays the piano. Made me want to play, get better, sing.
• Teacher encouraging the girl to write. Told her to write what you know, and then add to it (with imagination).

Black and white

Twas an uncolored film. I've only watched a few such in my life. I usually feel some resistance to doing so. Usually it pays off though. Certainly did in this case. Lack of color does not lessen its merit. At most, I had a few thoughts related to how the lighting and saturation play the larger role (than color, I guess), for example, we know it's daytime because things are generally brighter or higher saturation, rather than e.g. a blue sky.

The "old-timeiness" came through more in the manner of speech. They speak in the old American way. Is it just a movie thing? I'm not sure. I