A Hidden Life

I have admired the work of director Terrence Malick since the day in the early '90s when I finally watched BADLANDS, even at that time long considered a masterpiece.   I agreed, and later also found DAYS OF HEAVEN to be a gorgeous piece of work.   By then the WWII drama THE THIN RED LINE was released in theaters, ending a seventeen year hiatus for the director.   Malick's method was cemented, and deemed "boring" by fans of the same year's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.  His wandering eye seemed as interested in swaying palms as war weary men.  A real connection with nature, which of course connects with men's souls. 

More recently, Malick has seemed to retreat further into some sort of cinematic netherworld.  Abandoning narrative for dreamy, dolly laden snippets of scenes and breathy voiceovers.  The films more resembled two hour montages.  By KNIGHT OF CUPS, even I was losing patience.  With 2019's A HIDDEN LIFE, Malick (who also wrote the screenplay) has finally resumed following a story and it serves him and his ethereal style quite well.  Yes, he still employs the aforementioned, but this nearly three hour film does pause long enough to form a plot, a true life bio of Austrian farmer Franz Jagerstatter who became a martyr when he repeatedly refused to pledge allegiance to Adolf Hitler.  

There are many scenes of life on the farm.  The threshing of hay.  Gathering water.  Shearing the wool off sheep.  Families loving on each other at dinner tables and in the tall grass near the mountains.  The sort of scenes visible in THE NEW WORLD and TREE OF LIFE.  This is still a Terrence Malick film.  But as we follow Jagerstatter's (August Diehl) gradual, peaceful rebellion of conscientious objection, A HIDDEN LIFE becomes involving in a more tangible fashion.  The tension among fellow townsfolk and toward Franz and his wife Fani (Valerie Pachner) also adds to the drama.  Though these scenes, as with all of those pastoral shots, get repetitive.

And I feel that Malick, who with Rehman Nizar Ali, Joes Gleason, and Sebastian Jones spent three years editing the movie, should have been more ruthless in that process.  There is a masterpiece in there, unfortunately bloated a bit by too many redundant scenes.   As for the voiceover, instead of the usual whispers we hear the husband and wife's letters to each other read aloud by them, and while some of the words are profound (many based on Biblical scripture), some are dangerously close to sounding like greeting card poetry. 

Expectedly, the film is visually stunning.  Jorg Widmer's use of the Red Dragon digital camera is so breathtaking at times I feel he sets a new template for contemporary cinema.   One could drink in the images alone, or at least use them to test that new 8K flat screen they'd like to put in their living room.  James Newton Howard's score is also quite appropriate.

Jagerstatter's story is tragic, but can also be viewed as a victory for steadfast faith.  Unwavering.  Many would understandably question how he could abandon his family.  Those who are non-believers might find hubris in the man's decisions.  Even Christians can argue, and both sides would have validity.  It may come down to undiluted, uncompromising integrity.  Franz's lawyers and even the judge (Bruno Ganz, in his final role) suggest he merely recite words that would spare his life, regardless of what is in his heart.  Surely the Lord would understand? Many similar questions arise in Scorsese's SILENCE, with which A HIDDEN LIFE would make a heady (if lengthy) double feature.