The Tree

The Tree is a moving account of an 8-year old girl’s relationship with her deceased father, the only connecting link to whom is an old tree that stands tall in the backyard of the house.

The central character of the movie is Simone (Morgana Davies), who believes that her father, who suddenly died in a heart attack, leaving behind four children and a grieving widow, communicates with her through this Moreton Bay Fig tree, around which they used to play as young children, and crashing into which, their father died in an accident that was prompted by the attack. Simone’s mother, Dawn, begins to believe in her daughter’s supernatural link with her father, and takes solace in the fact that her husband still has a protecting hand over them. Just when everything seems to be falling back into control, havoc is wrecked with the intrusion of George, a plumber who’s called in to solve the mounting problem of the tree’s roots shaking the foundations of the house. Seeing the only practical solution as cutting down the tree, George gets set to pull it down, but as expected, Simone acts as a huge impediment to the task, refusing to concede to the ruthless elimination of the only thing that keeps her father alive.

When George reasons out with Dawn that she shouldn’t let the little girl come in between such a necessary task, Dawn turns against him and refuses to talk to him. The house is ultimately destroyed in a storm when the tree falls upon it, forcing the O’Nealls to bid adieu to the comfort of their home and step out on to new terrains.