Nearly half a century lies between this film and the only previous Terrence Malick I'd seen, BADLANDS, which I admire very much and have watched a number of times. As might be expected, he's a very different film maker now. I found A HIDDEN LIFE something of a puzzle. It is undoubtedly beautiful to watch, even as its subject matter gets progressively grimmer. Its religiosity was something of a challenge to me, as was its stilted dialogue. Its story is the familiar one of a man suffering for what he believes. It is the story of John Procter, the hero of Arthur Miller's play THE CRUCIBLE; it is the story of Ibsen's Dr Stockmann, in the play ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. And of course it's the story of Jesus Christ. There is a tragic grandeur to all of these, and, whatever my reservations about it, there is tragic grandeur to A HIDDEN LIFE. My husband found it unbearably pretentious. I can see why. But I admire the way that this film isn't like anyone else's, that Malick has, in the course of the last half-century, found a way of working that delivers something unique. It certainly won't be to everyone's taste, and aspects of it test one's patience. All the same, I was glad to have seen it, not least for the cinematography and the performances, and the retelling of a story that we all still need to hear in these troubled times.
281 Reviews
A Poetic Film, If it's not your type just ignore it
hossammouse8 March 2020
Another Terrance Malick film but - thank God - it's not like his last ones. He is back.
I was bored of the idea of another Anti-Nazi film but I'm telling you it's not. This is a film about pride, bravery, principles, choice, humanity.
As usual from Malick: great shots and cinematography, great monologues, such an incredible soundtrack that deserved an Oscar nomination (also the cinematography). But still the editing got me confused at some scenes, it was a weakness point. The cast are all good especially August Diehl & Valerie Pachner.
No cliches, no heroes, just a simple man whose opinion won't affect the war and no one would listen to it, but he is still standing for his principles to make himself and his family proud of himself as a human. A Hidden Life of a hidden family.
Some people could get bored quickly so it's simply not for them. They have a lot of films for their taste. It's ok everyone has a taste. Just enjoy and let people enjoy.
Malick on faith
ferguson-619 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Greetings again from the darkness. With a title pulled from a line in George Eliot's "Middlemarch", enigmatic filmmaker Terrence Malick continues his deep probe into humanity and faith ... recurring themes in most of his films, and especially the run that began with his excellent THE TREE OF LIFE (2012). This current film is easily his most accessible over that period as it focuses on the (mostly) true story of Austrian WWII conscientious objector Franz Jagerstatter.
The film opens with contrasting images: a black screen with sounds of nature fading to a bucolic Austrian Alps village versus dramatic historical clips of Hitler (I believe from Leni Reifenstahl's 1935 Nazi propaganda film TRIUMPH OF THE WILL). The rural farming village we see is Sankt Radegund, the idyllic community where Franz Jagerstatter (played by August Diehl, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS) lives off the land with his wife Franziska "Fani" (played by Valerie Pachner) and their three young daughters. It's a family bonded by love. The family and fellow villagers go about the rigors of daily life as the war spreads. In 1940, Franz is sent to Enns Military base for training, and is then returned to his village under a farming exemption.
What follows is a first half filled with dread as Franz struggles with his own beliefs in a new world order that has no room for individual thought. He refuses to swear an oath to Hitler, despite the rest of the villagers doing so. He knows what this means, as does his wife. As Franz refuses the "Heil Hitler", he is described as being something worse than an enemy - a traitor. He holds firmly to his principles ... vague to us, yet crystal clear to him. He becomes a pariah in his own village, as even the priest urges him to relent by stating he has "a duty to the fatherland."
"Don't they know evil when they see it?" Franz asks the question we have all been asking since Hitler came to power. When he is called to duty in 1943, Franz and Fani know the eventual outcome. Franz is asked by many, and in various ways, "What purpose does it serve?" No one can make sense of his stand. As he is imprisoned at Tegel Prison, solicitors played by Matthias Schoenaerts and Alexander Fehling both try to convince him to pledge loyalty and save his life. Franz's response is, "I can't do what I know is wrong."
With the first half being filled with dread and anxiety, the second half is all about the suffering. Franz is locked away with very little access to the nature or family he holds so dear, while Fani is a village outcast, trying desperately to raise their daughters and put food in their mouths. They are each in their own prison - isolated from the life they love. From Tegel Prison in 1943, Franz writes many letters to Fani. The letters are philosophy mixed with hope and love, and provide the source of how his story was discovered many years ago.
Anyone familiar with Malick's films know that each is a visual work of artistry. Instead of his usual cinematographer, 3-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki, this film features the camera work of Jorg Widmer (who assisted Lubezki on THE TREE OF LIFE). The film lives up to our expectations, especially in capturing the vitality and spirit of nature through lush landscapes, mountains, trees, grasses, gardens, streams, rivers, and a waterfall. The family is one with nature, which stands in stark contrast to Franz inside the cold prison walls. Composer James Newton Howard brilliantly uses a lone violin, as well as a mixture of classical music. This was the final film for two extraordinary actors who recently passed away. Michael Nyqvist plays the Bishop who tells Franz that if God gave us free will, then we are responsible for what we do and what we don't do. Bruno Ganz plays the head judge on the committee that decides Franz's fate.
We could describe the film as either a tragic love story or an ode to faith and principles. Both fit, and yet both fall short. Terrence Malick is a confounding and brilliant and artistic filmmaker. After his breakthrough film DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978), he took a 20 year hiatus before filming THE THIN RED LINE (his other WWII film). Recently he has proven much more productive, yet he remains a meticulous craftsman - taking three years to edit this film. His visual style is quite unique, yet he has the skill to make a messenger's bicycle bell send chills. He was able to meet Franz's surviving daughters (now in their 80's) prior to filming, as they still live near this village. We are quite fortunate that this exquisite filmmaker is allowing us to tag along on his search for the meaning of life and his exploration of faith ... just make sure you set aside 3 hours for the lesson.
The film opens with contrasting images: a black screen with sounds of nature fading to a bucolic Austrian Alps village versus dramatic historical clips of Hitler (I believe from Leni Reifenstahl's 1935 Nazi propaganda film TRIUMPH OF THE WILL). The rural farming village we see is Sankt Radegund, the idyllic community where Franz Jagerstatter (played by August Diehl, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS) lives off the land with his wife Franziska "Fani" (played by Valerie Pachner) and their three young daughters. It's a family bonded by love. The family and fellow villagers go about the rigors of daily life as the war spreads. In 1940, Franz is sent to Enns Military base for training, and is then returned to his village under a farming exemption.
What follows is a first half filled with dread as Franz struggles with his own beliefs in a new world order that has no room for individual thought. He refuses to swear an oath to Hitler, despite the rest of the villagers doing so. He knows what this means, as does his wife. As Franz refuses the "Heil Hitler", he is described as being something worse than an enemy - a traitor. He holds firmly to his principles ... vague to us, yet crystal clear to him. He becomes a pariah in his own village, as even the priest urges him to relent by stating he has "a duty to the fatherland."
"Don't they know evil when they see it?" Franz asks the question we have all been asking since Hitler came to power. When he is called to duty in 1943, Franz and Fani know the eventual outcome. Franz is asked by many, and in various ways, "What purpose does it serve?" No one can make sense of his stand. As he is imprisoned at Tegel Prison, solicitors played by Matthias Schoenaerts and Alexander Fehling both try to convince him to pledge loyalty and save his life. Franz's response is, "I can't do what I know is wrong."
With the first half being filled with dread and anxiety, the second half is all about the suffering. Franz is locked away with very little access to the nature or family he holds so dear, while Fani is a village outcast, trying desperately to raise their daughters and put food in their mouths. They are each in their own prison - isolated from the life they love. From Tegel Prison in 1943, Franz writes many letters to Fani. The letters are philosophy mixed with hope and love, and provide the source of how his story was discovered many years ago.
Anyone familiar with Malick's films know that each is a visual work of artistry. Instead of his usual cinematographer, 3-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki, this film features the camera work of Jorg Widmer (who assisted Lubezki on THE TREE OF LIFE). The film lives up to our expectations, especially in capturing the vitality and spirit of nature through lush landscapes, mountains, trees, grasses, gardens, streams, rivers, and a waterfall. The family is one with nature, which stands in stark contrast to Franz inside the cold prison walls. Composer James Newton Howard brilliantly uses a lone violin, as well as a mixture of classical music. This was the final film for two extraordinary actors who recently passed away. Michael Nyqvist plays the Bishop who tells Franz that if God gave us free will, then we are responsible for what we do and what we don't do. Bruno Ganz plays the head judge on the committee that decides Franz's fate.
We could describe the film as either a tragic love story or an ode to faith and principles. Both fit, and yet both fall short. Terrence Malick is a confounding and brilliant and artistic filmmaker. After his breakthrough film DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978), he took a 20 year hiatus before filming THE THIN RED LINE (his other WWII film). Recently he has proven much more productive, yet he remains a meticulous craftsman - taking three years to edit this film. His visual style is quite unique, yet he has the skill to make a messenger's bicycle bell send chills. He was able to meet Franz's surviving daughters (now in their 80's) prior to filming, as they still live near this village. We are quite fortunate that this exquisite filmmaker is allowing us to tag along on his search for the meaning of life and his exploration of faith ... just make sure you set aside 3 hours for the lesson.
Transcendent. A truly spiritual film
Lepidopterous_11 November 2019
"Better to suffer injustice than to do it..."
I don't have many words tonight. A lot of thoughts and emotions. I didn't expect a perfect score from me this year, but I am just floored and overwhelmed by the visual poetry and spiritual magnitude of it all. It feels transcendent. With a beauty that permeates all the way to one's own relationship with God.
Based on true events, A Hidden Life is Malick's most direct exploration of faith since To the Wonder, and perhaps his most fully realized work yet. It is an allegorical story about a man of extraordinary faith. A real-life parable of perseverance and free will. A spiritual journey centered in not just our humanity, but on what it means to truly walk the steps of Christ. And on what it means to choose what we believe is right and just, when we are given every reason not to.
Malick doesn't glorify the central character's ideals or deeds. Rather we focus on the humble threads of love and the storm they weather--and the romantic chemistry is perfect. August Diehl & Valerie Pachner are both exceptional and so incredibly in love. Seconds into the film and you already know it. Pachner gives a particularly moving performance deserving of an Oscar nomination (she is in SF this week doing Q&A's!). Every touch, glance, or embrace between these two is personal, powerful, believable. You can see the stress leave their shoulders each time they first see each other. Sincerity fills the screen as their thoughts, worries, desires, and personal bond resurface in the context of God.
The cinematography is superb, with DP notably credited to Jörg Widmer and not Emmanuel Lubezki. There is a rare seamless quality achieved blending in old footage as well as in choosing to entirely forgo subtitles in a film spoken in equal parts English and German. The music is the best I've heard all year. A beautiful traditional theme by James Newton Howard (Blood Diamond, TDK) with Handel, Dvorak, and other great classical works mixed in.
A Hidden Life is a film that may stay with you for some time. This is quintessential Malick, joining the ranks of The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life. Go in with an open mind and heart, ready for a spiritual experience.
I don't have many words tonight. A lot of thoughts and emotions. I didn't expect a perfect score from me this year, but I am just floored and overwhelmed by the visual poetry and spiritual magnitude of it all. It feels transcendent. With a beauty that permeates all the way to one's own relationship with God.
Based on true events, A Hidden Life is Malick's most direct exploration of faith since To the Wonder, and perhaps his most fully realized work yet. It is an allegorical story about a man of extraordinary faith. A real-life parable of perseverance and free will. A spiritual journey centered in not just our humanity, but on what it means to truly walk the steps of Christ. And on what it means to choose what we believe is right and just, when we are given every reason not to.
Malick doesn't glorify the central character's ideals or deeds. Rather we focus on the humble threads of love and the storm they weather--and the romantic chemistry is perfect. August Diehl & Valerie Pachner are both exceptional and so incredibly in love. Seconds into the film and you already know it. Pachner gives a particularly moving performance deserving of an Oscar nomination (she is in SF this week doing Q&A's!). Every touch, glance, or embrace between these two is personal, powerful, believable. You can see the stress leave their shoulders each time they first see each other. Sincerity fills the screen as their thoughts, worries, desires, and personal bond resurface in the context of God.
The cinematography is superb, with DP notably credited to Jörg Widmer and not Emmanuel Lubezki. There is a rare seamless quality achieved blending in old footage as well as in choosing to entirely forgo subtitles in a film spoken in equal parts English and German. The music is the best I've heard all year. A beautiful traditional theme by James Newton Howard (Blood Diamond, TDK) with Handel, Dvorak, and other great classical works mixed in.
A Hidden Life is a film that may stay with you for some time. This is quintessential Malick, joining the ranks of The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life. Go in with an open mind and heart, ready for a spiritual experience.
A meditation on morality and faith; a film of unparalleled sublimity; an experience beyond the sensory
Bertaut31 January 2020
Always an explicitly Christian filmmaker, writer/director Terrence Malick has never been didactic, dogmatic, or puritanical. No matter how lofty his vision, his films remain always rooted in the human soul, in the tradition of Heidegger's existential phenomenology, which focuses on the ontology of the earthly Dasein ("being-there") rather than the epistemology of the Lebenswelt ("lifeworld") - even the most overtly metaphysical scenes in Malick remain focused on the physical. And A Hidden Life, which may be his most ostensibly Christian work yet, is quintessentially Malickian, featuring many of his most identifiable stylistic traits (whispered voice-overs, sweeping cameras spinning around non-stationary characters, the beauty of nature contrasted with the ugliness of humanity). Malick's films are about the search for transcendence in a compromised and often evil world, and, telling the true story of the Austrian conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter, A Hidden Life is no different. And how good is it? Very, very, very good. Not quite The Thin Red Line (1998)/The Tree of Life (2011) good, but certainly Badlands (1973)/Days of Heaven (1978)/The New World (2005) good. This is cinema at its most sublimely pious, a supremely talented master-auteur operating at the height of his not inconsiderable powers. You don't watch A Hidden Life. You let it enter your soul.
Austria, 1938. In the bucolic village of Sankt Radegund, peasant farmer Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl) lives a simple but blissful life with his wife Fani (Valerie Pachner) and their family. A devout Christian, he's unenthusiastic about the looming war, despite its widespread popularity in the village. Called up to basic training, he's away for several months, but when France surrenders in June 1940, it's thought that the war will soon end, and he's sent home without having been deployed. However, as time goes by, and as the war shows no signs of ending, his opposition grows ever more ingrained, to the point where his family are being harassed. Eventually, he's conscripted, but refuses to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler, and so is arrested and imprisoned.
Needless to say, Malick fashions this material into a thematically rich mosaic. To a certain extent, all his films deal, to one degree or another, with the notion of the corruption of Eden, and Hidden Life is as literal as Thin Red Line and New World in this respect. Sankt Radegund is an earthly paradise, hidden in the embrace of the nearby mountains, fed by the River En (the film was originally called simply Radegund, before adopting the George Eliot quote as its title). However, as the war takes hold, the village comes under attack, not by bombs, but by ideological complicity. The harmony and idealism have been corrupted, not by Franz's refusal to comply, by everyone else's insistence on compliance. The village at the end of the film is an infinitely different place from that at the start, a tainted place. Eden has fallen.
Franz doesn't resist the Nazis because he wants to spearhead a movement or because of political high-mindedness. His reasons are simpler - he believes that God teaches us to resist evil, and as a great evil, he must therefore resist Nazism. There's nothing egotistical and precious little that's political in this stance. It's not even a question of personal morality. In an important exchange with Judge Lueben (the late, great Bruno Ganz), Franz is asked, "Do you have a right to do this?", to which he responds, "Do I have a right not to?" His resistance is ingrained in his very soul. Indeed, watching him head willingly toward his tragic fate, turning the other cheek to the prison guards who humiliate and torture him, he becomes something of a Christ figure, with his time in prison not unlike the Passion. An important conversation concerning this is when he is speaking to Ohlendorf (Johan Leysen), a cynical artisan who is restoring the local church's artwork. Ohlendorf laments that he must work not on images of Christ's suffering as it was, but on the sanitised version desired by the clergy, and he lacks the courage to do otherwise; "I paint their comfortable Christ, with a halo over his head. Some day I might have the courage to venture. Not yet. Some day. I'll paint the true Christ." It's a subtle summation of Franz's situation, of course, but so too of the film, which shows Franz's suffering as it was even as it celebrates the power of faith to transcend such suffering.
In this sense, much like Pvt. Witt (Jim Caviezel) in Thin Red Line, Franz is a Heideggerian sein-zum-tode ("being-towards-death"). This describes not the hastening towards the end of Dasein in a biological sense but is rather about the process of growing in the Lebenswelt to a point where one gains an authentic perspective, as one comes to completely accept the temporality of this existence, and hence no longer fear death. The application to both Witt and Franz is obvious - both men accept that this world is transitory and that life is simply part of the soul's eternal journey, so neither man fears death, and by not fearing it, they triumph over it.
Aesthetically, as one expects from Malick, A Hidden Life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful, particularly in its depiction of nature. Shooting digitally, Malick and his first-time cinematographer Jörg Widmer shot most of the exteriors (and some of the interiors) in a wide-lens anamorphic format that distorts everything outside the dead-centre of the frame. The effect is subtle (we're not talking fisheye lens distortion), but important - pushing the mountains further around the village, bringing the sky closer, elongating the already vast fields. This is a land beyond time, a modern Utopia that kisses the very sky.
The film opens with the sounds of birds chirping and a river flowing, followed by a voice-over in which Fani invokes the natural grandeur of Sankt Radegund ("I thought that we could build our nest high-up. In the trees. Fly away like birds to the mountains"). All of this before we see a single image. The film then begins (and closes) on breath-taking shots of the mountains around the village. However, a lot of the VO is epistolary, with large portions taken from the letters Franz and Fani write to one another when he was in prison. For Malick, this is a very conventional style to employ, especially insofar as his VOs have been getting more and more abstract as his films have gone on.
As for problems, as a Malick fanatic, I found very few. You know what you're getting with a Malick film, so complaining about the length (it's just shy of three hours) or the pace is kind of pointless. You know if you like how Malick paces his films, and if you found, for example, New World boring beyond belief, so too will you find Hidden Life. One thing I will say, though, there are a few scenes in the last act that are a little repetitive, giving us information we already have or hitting emotional beats we've already hit. It could also be argued that the film abstracts or flat-out ignores the real horrors of World War II, but that's by design. It isn't about those horrors, and Thin Red Line proves Malick has no problem showing man's inhumanity to man. The same is true for politics; much like 1917 (2019), Hidden Life is not about politics, so to accuse it of failing to address politics is to imply it's obliged to address politics. Which it most certainly is not.
In the end, A Hidden Life left me profoundly moved, on a level that very, very few films have (Thin Red Line and Tree of Life amongst them). Less a film than a spiritual odyssey, if you're a Malick fan, you should be enraptured. I don't know if I'd necessarily call it a masterpiece, but it's certainly close and is easily the best film of 2019 that I've seen thus far (the fact that it missed out on a single Academy Award nomination is a commentary unto itself).
Austria, 1938. In the bucolic village of Sankt Radegund, peasant farmer Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl) lives a simple but blissful life with his wife Fani (Valerie Pachner) and their family. A devout Christian, he's unenthusiastic about the looming war, despite its widespread popularity in the village. Called up to basic training, he's away for several months, but when France surrenders in June 1940, it's thought that the war will soon end, and he's sent home without having been deployed. However, as time goes by, and as the war shows no signs of ending, his opposition grows ever more ingrained, to the point where his family are being harassed. Eventually, he's conscripted, but refuses to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler, and so is arrested and imprisoned.
Needless to say, Malick fashions this material into a thematically rich mosaic. To a certain extent, all his films deal, to one degree or another, with the notion of the corruption of Eden, and Hidden Life is as literal as Thin Red Line and New World in this respect. Sankt Radegund is an earthly paradise, hidden in the embrace of the nearby mountains, fed by the River En (the film was originally called simply Radegund, before adopting the George Eliot quote as its title). However, as the war takes hold, the village comes under attack, not by bombs, but by ideological complicity. The harmony and idealism have been corrupted, not by Franz's refusal to comply, by everyone else's insistence on compliance. The village at the end of the film is an infinitely different place from that at the start, a tainted place. Eden has fallen.
Franz doesn't resist the Nazis because he wants to spearhead a movement or because of political high-mindedness. His reasons are simpler - he believes that God teaches us to resist evil, and as a great evil, he must therefore resist Nazism. There's nothing egotistical and precious little that's political in this stance. It's not even a question of personal morality. In an important exchange with Judge Lueben (the late, great Bruno Ganz), Franz is asked, "Do you have a right to do this?", to which he responds, "Do I have a right not to?" His resistance is ingrained in his very soul. Indeed, watching him head willingly toward his tragic fate, turning the other cheek to the prison guards who humiliate and torture him, he becomes something of a Christ figure, with his time in prison not unlike the Passion. An important conversation concerning this is when he is speaking to Ohlendorf (Johan Leysen), a cynical artisan who is restoring the local church's artwork. Ohlendorf laments that he must work not on images of Christ's suffering as it was, but on the sanitised version desired by the clergy, and he lacks the courage to do otherwise; "I paint their comfortable Christ, with a halo over his head. Some day I might have the courage to venture. Not yet. Some day. I'll paint the true Christ." It's a subtle summation of Franz's situation, of course, but so too of the film, which shows Franz's suffering as it was even as it celebrates the power of faith to transcend such suffering.
In this sense, much like Pvt. Witt (Jim Caviezel) in Thin Red Line, Franz is a Heideggerian sein-zum-tode ("being-towards-death"). This describes not the hastening towards the end of Dasein in a biological sense but is rather about the process of growing in the Lebenswelt to a point where one gains an authentic perspective, as one comes to completely accept the temporality of this existence, and hence no longer fear death. The application to both Witt and Franz is obvious - both men accept that this world is transitory and that life is simply part of the soul's eternal journey, so neither man fears death, and by not fearing it, they triumph over it.
Aesthetically, as one expects from Malick, A Hidden Life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful, particularly in its depiction of nature. Shooting digitally, Malick and his first-time cinematographer Jörg Widmer shot most of the exteriors (and some of the interiors) in a wide-lens anamorphic format that distorts everything outside the dead-centre of the frame. The effect is subtle (we're not talking fisheye lens distortion), but important - pushing the mountains further around the village, bringing the sky closer, elongating the already vast fields. This is a land beyond time, a modern Utopia that kisses the very sky.
The film opens with the sounds of birds chirping and a river flowing, followed by a voice-over in which Fani invokes the natural grandeur of Sankt Radegund ("I thought that we could build our nest high-up. In the trees. Fly away like birds to the mountains"). All of this before we see a single image. The film then begins (and closes) on breath-taking shots of the mountains around the village. However, a lot of the VO is epistolary, with large portions taken from the letters Franz and Fani write to one another when he was in prison. For Malick, this is a very conventional style to employ, especially insofar as his VOs have been getting more and more abstract as his films have gone on.
As for problems, as a Malick fanatic, I found very few. You know what you're getting with a Malick film, so complaining about the length (it's just shy of three hours) or the pace is kind of pointless. You know if you like how Malick paces his films, and if you found, for example, New World boring beyond belief, so too will you find Hidden Life. One thing I will say, though, there are a few scenes in the last act that are a little repetitive, giving us information we already have or hitting emotional beats we've already hit. It could also be argued that the film abstracts or flat-out ignores the real horrors of World War II, but that's by design. It isn't about those horrors, and Thin Red Line proves Malick has no problem showing man's inhumanity to man. The same is true for politics; much like 1917 (2019), Hidden Life is not about politics, so to accuse it of failing to address politics is to imply it's obliged to address politics. Which it most certainly is not.
In the end, A Hidden Life left me profoundly moved, on a level that very, very few films have (Thin Red Line and Tree of Life amongst them). Less a film than a spiritual odyssey, if you're a Malick fan, you should be enraptured. I don't know if I'd necessarily call it a masterpiece, but it's certainly close and is easily the best film of 2019 that I've seen thus far (the fact that it missed out on a single Academy Award nomination is a commentary unto itself).
Beautiful film about an ugly past.
JohnDeSando10 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
"How simple life was then." Franziska (Valerie Pachner)
Auteur Terence Malick's brilliant A Hidden Life is just as beautifully photographed by DP Jorg Widmer as you'd expect from the acclaimed director. The Austrian countryside is mountain green and moody, but not really simple anymore for our heroes.
Nazi conscientious objector Franz (August Diehl) and his wife knew much better times before he refused to swear allegiance to Hitler. The 3-hour depiction of their troubled life, right down to his imprisonment and execution, is ironically one of the most beautiful films of the year and one of the most disturbing.
The contrast between the bucolic life and the imprisoned one is best served by beautiful landscapes juxtaposed with starkly cruel prisons. Malick succeeds at having us fall in love with the landscape and the heroic couple at the same time. Sometimes there seem to be short- lens anamorphic shots, with everything distorted but the center, emphasizing the loneliness of rebellion while the wide-shot landscapes offer hope of a better time sadly not to come soon enough.
Don't be fooled by my exuberant appreciation of this romance gone bad, for it is a hard study of payment due for a man to have scruples, when it would have been easy for him to sign the oath but believe inside the opposite. It is not the dialogue that will put you squarely in support of the futile objection; it is the simplicity of Franz's devotion to what is good to do, and his wife's support of that as death knell.
As might be expected, few fellow Austrians support Franz, and just as few Germans seemed to realize the horror that was Hitler. For those today who oppose autocrats, let this be a warning that necessary opposition to authority comes with a heavy payment.
Auteur Terence Malick's brilliant A Hidden Life is just as beautifully photographed by DP Jorg Widmer as you'd expect from the acclaimed director. The Austrian countryside is mountain green and moody, but not really simple anymore for our heroes.
Nazi conscientious objector Franz (August Diehl) and his wife knew much better times before he refused to swear allegiance to Hitler. The 3-hour depiction of their troubled life, right down to his imprisonment and execution, is ironically one of the most beautiful films of the year and one of the most disturbing.
The contrast between the bucolic life and the imprisoned one is best served by beautiful landscapes juxtaposed with starkly cruel prisons. Malick succeeds at having us fall in love with the landscape and the heroic couple at the same time. Sometimes there seem to be short- lens anamorphic shots, with everything distorted but the center, emphasizing the loneliness of rebellion while the wide-shot landscapes offer hope of a better time sadly not to come soon enough.
Don't be fooled by my exuberant appreciation of this romance gone bad, for it is a hard study of payment due for a man to have scruples, when it would have been easy for him to sign the oath but believe inside the opposite. It is not the dialogue that will put you squarely in support of the futile objection; it is the simplicity of Franz's devotion to what is good to do, and his wife's support of that as death knell.
As might be expected, few fellow Austrians support Franz, and just as few Germans seemed to realize the horror that was Hitler. For those today who oppose autocrats, let this be a warning that necessary opposition to authority comes with a heavy payment.
First Hit: A long and beautifully shot study about how one man wouldn't compromise his beliefs.
michaeldoud1 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
First Hit: A long and beautifully shot study about how one man wouldn't compromise his beliefs.
Terrence Malick creates and makes statements in his films. Often, the films are long, always beautifully shot, and require the audience to think about the point he's making.
In this movie, the focus is on living and acting on your beliefs. Franz Jagerstatter (August Diehl) was profoundly religious and had a personal relationship with his idea of God, Christ, and what was right and wrong. He was faithful to the Catholic church in his tiny Austrian hillside village, called St. Radegund. As part of his commitment to the church performed duties at the church almost every day.
Married to Franziska, Fani (Valerie Pachner), they began their life together, farming and then having two children. They farmed their land by hand and were an integral part of their small community. During harvest season, the community worked together to bring in and store the harvested crops. The town felt like it was a long way from the war that Hitler was bringing to the world. However, when the war started turning against Hitler, the army drafted all eligible men to serve the Third Reich. This included Franz.
A requirement for serving the German Army was to sign a pledge of allegiance to Hitler and the German government. Franz couldn't do this. He could not live with himself if he signed something that was against what he believed, and after the army attempted to persuade him with physical and verbal abuse, they threw him in jail. The German officers even solicited the assistance of his local priest to convince him to sign the oath of loyalty. In essence, the priest was saying that God would overlook his signing the document to save his own life and the life of his family.
He couldn't and wouldn't sign the oath and therefore spent years in jail. But Franz wasn't the only one who paid the price, so did Fani. In scenes back in the village, Fani and the girls are depicted being shunned by almost everyone in the village because her husband Franz was giving their town a bad name in the eyes of ruling Germany.
The film spends time going back and forth between Franz in prison being harassed and beaten into signing a loyalty oath and the village where Fani and the girls were continuing to be harassed by the people in her town.
The immense pressure building up in Franz didn't break him down and his wife, despite the immense movement to ostracize her and the girls, continued to support him and his decision despite what she was going through.
This film shows the cruelty of people when someone stands up for their beliefs. Because the people, including the priest, are unwilling to stand for their true feelings, they make Franz and Fani the enemy.
The physical beauty of the area of the village was well captured by the cinematographer. The integration of archival footage of Adolf Hitler and the huge parades he commanded was well done.
Diehl was terrific as Franz. His ability to show his internal struggle in a contained, in prison, way was perfect. Pacher was sublime. Her looks of intensity and passion towards other characters , amazing. Michael Nyqvist's performance as the local Bishop that tried to persuade Franz to sign the document was excellent. Alexander Radszun's performance as the judge that sentenced Franz to death was very good. You could see that he understood and struggled but had to follow his own loyalty oath. Malick wrote a script that was too long. I think the film could have had a stronger impact if it was more crisp in its presentation.
Overall: Long and pretty, it needed to be tightened up to make its point even stronger.
Terrence Malick creates and makes statements in his films. Often, the films are long, always beautifully shot, and require the audience to think about the point he's making.
In this movie, the focus is on living and acting on your beliefs. Franz Jagerstatter (August Diehl) was profoundly religious and had a personal relationship with his idea of God, Christ, and what was right and wrong. He was faithful to the Catholic church in his tiny Austrian hillside village, called St. Radegund. As part of his commitment to the church performed duties at the church almost every day.
Married to Franziska, Fani (Valerie Pachner), they began their life together, farming and then having two children. They farmed their land by hand and were an integral part of their small community. During harvest season, the community worked together to bring in and store the harvested crops. The town felt like it was a long way from the war that Hitler was bringing to the world. However, when the war started turning against Hitler, the army drafted all eligible men to serve the Third Reich. This included Franz.
A requirement for serving the German Army was to sign a pledge of allegiance to Hitler and the German government. Franz couldn't do this. He could not live with himself if he signed something that was against what he believed, and after the army attempted to persuade him with physical and verbal abuse, they threw him in jail. The German officers even solicited the assistance of his local priest to convince him to sign the oath of loyalty. In essence, the priest was saying that God would overlook his signing the document to save his own life and the life of his family.
He couldn't and wouldn't sign the oath and therefore spent years in jail. But Franz wasn't the only one who paid the price, so did Fani. In scenes back in the village, Fani and the girls are depicted being shunned by almost everyone in the village because her husband Franz was giving their town a bad name in the eyes of ruling Germany.
The film spends time going back and forth between Franz in prison being harassed and beaten into signing a loyalty oath and the village where Fani and the girls were continuing to be harassed by the people in her town.
The immense pressure building up in Franz didn't break him down and his wife, despite the immense movement to ostracize her and the girls, continued to support him and his decision despite what she was going through.
This film shows the cruelty of people when someone stands up for their beliefs. Because the people, including the priest, are unwilling to stand for their true feelings, they make Franz and Fani the enemy.
The physical beauty of the area of the village was well captured by the cinematographer. The integration of archival footage of Adolf Hitler and the huge parades he commanded was well done.
Diehl was terrific as Franz. His ability to show his internal struggle in a contained, in prison, way was perfect. Pacher was sublime. Her looks of intensity and passion towards other characters , amazing. Michael Nyqvist's performance as the local Bishop that tried to persuade Franz to sign the document was excellent. Alexander Radszun's performance as the judge that sentenced Franz to death was very good. You could see that he understood and struggled but had to follow his own loyalty oath. Malick wrote a script that was too long. I think the film could have had a stronger impact if it was more crisp in its presentation.
Overall: Long and pretty, it needed to be tightened up to make its point even stronger.
Impeccable
caughlan_anne20 September 2019
Saw this in Toronto and felt privileged to be in a world where a movie like this is made and a story like this is told. Based on letters written between a husband and wife while he is in jail for being a conscientious objector in Hitler's Austria. So heartbreaking to see how the village where he lived, all friends and neighbours for decades - all become his enemies as he is the only one willing to say No. And yet he is strong in his convictions and sustained by love.
Too bad it's that long and slow.
deloudelouvain6 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A Hidden Life: The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II. So far, so good, interesting material to make a good movie, which it was by the way, but that's if you have a lot of patience because the pace of this movie is extremely slow. It's three hours of melancholy, but beautifully filmed, because that's what makes this movie still worth a watch. The cinematography was on top, great camera work, nice unusual camera angles, stunning landscapes, all ingredients to make a brilliant movie. Unfortunatelly it's that long and slow, and that brings it down, even if the story is poignant and will make you think about moral values and priorities in life. The message is nice, nobody should have to do something against his will especially if it's evil. The fact that Franz Jägerstätter is a Godfearing human made him just another dumb human being to me. Not sure, well in fact I'm sure, that I didn't like his real motivation for his actions. I would do anything to be back with my family, lie through my teeth if I had to but certainly not abandon them like this. In short, A Hidden Life has a good story, but too long and too slow, with a good cast that did a very good job with their respective characters, and a nice cinematography. I would have scored it higher if it was 90 minutes long.
Art at its Finest
hansenan-217-85404126 April 2020
There are some who will find Malick's most recent masterpiece, A Hidden Life, to be tedious -- and there is no fault in that. The film is long, and, as with Malick's many other beauties, the story comes second to the artistry through which the story is told. The medium is the message here.
This fact may seem counter-intuitive when the story is of one of such cultural significance -- a peasant farmer, Franz, puts life and family on the line in favor of his personal faith and ethics, when he refuses to swear loyalty to Hitler.
Through beautiful shots, that on their own could be masterful photographs, Malick tells the story of a faith so pure that there appears to alternative other than the choice Franz has made. And yet, this film is not pious. It is a simple story, about a simple man with simple faith, who makes a simple choice of profound significance.
If you appreciate costuming, soundtracks, and cinematography, you will appreciate this film. If you care only about story, you will likely find this film to be beautiful but a drag.
Worthy but self-indulgent
Lomax34326 January 2020
Another special atmospheric Terrence Malick flick
Mister_F1118 February 2020
The visually outstanding war drama "A Hidden Life" tells a true, hitherto hardly publicly perceived story of a resistance fighter who rebelled without any great gestures against Hitler and the Third Reich in a lyrical-meditative style as a Jesus allegory. This film works as a philosophical love story, which, precisely because it tells a different view of the Second World War, stands out particularly and is another well-made work by the long-established director Terrence Malick.
Interesting, Not Entertaining
friendly-767995 January 2020
During World War II a military aged German farmer, not necessarily opposed to serving in the German army but skeptical of Hitler, refuses to swear the compulsory loyalty oath upon his conscription.
What ensues is entirely predictable.
The movie is nearly 3 hours long and the most interesting parts of the film are front-loaded in the first hour. The pacing of the film is already slow, then gets slower.
Although the film has some historical interest, it is simply not fun to watch because the story drags and the protagonist is entirely passive during the entirety of the film. The audience is left to guess his motivations because he hardly says anything. It is hinted that the protagonist might feel his passive resistance is part of a quasi-religious duty to fight evil.
Multiple groups left the theater during my screening. The same story could have been told in half the time.
If there is one key message I took away from the film, it is one man's passive resistance is another man's passive aggression. Profound? - not really.
The reaction of the moviegoer seated next to me sums up the general audience experience, "I am sure we watched it for some reason."
Educational value 7/10. Entertainment value 4/10.
The movie is nearly 3 hours long and the most interesting parts of the film are front-loaded in the first hour. The pacing of the film is already slow, then gets slower.
Although the film has some historical interest, it is simply not fun to watch because the story drags and the protagonist is entirely passive during the entirety of the film. The audience is left to guess his motivations because he hardly says anything. It is hinted that the protagonist might feel his passive resistance is part of a quasi-religious duty to fight evil.
Multiple groups left the theater during my screening. The same story could have been told in half the time.
If there is one key message I took away from the film, it is one man's passive resistance is another man's passive aggression. Profound? - not really.
The reaction of the moviegoer seated next to me sums up the general audience experience, "I am sure we watched it for some reason."
Educational value 7/10. Entertainment value 4/10.
Worthy -- but not for three hours
elision1014 December 2020
I like slow, absorbing films as much as the next guy. But really, this should NOT be a three-hour film. You do feel something for the characters. But the film is not that well executed. There doesn't seem to be enough background to the story -- we don't see, as one might expect. a protagonist with historical ties to the land, with deep-seated friendships and relationships that are tested. And the wrestling of his soul is protracted yet also seems somehow light and not consequential. But the length is my biggest gripe. A two-hour movie would have been better.
great
Kirpianuscus22 February 2020
You feel than it is a film by Terrence Malick. And, knowing before the first scenes the story of Franz Jagestatter you have the certitude than nobody except him can give, in fair manner, the story of the Austrian blessed. Sure, the image and the storytelling and the perfect cast. But more. A sort of thrill about a delicate theme not so easy to present in right way. And a great film about conscience against dictatorship. The source of force -,off course, is the image but, more important, the status of contemporary story. It represents a form of warning. Clear and high precise send to us.
Two worlds collide
Alexander_Blanchett1 February 2020
Finally Terrence Malick is back with a real masterpiece and his best film since "The Tree of Life". Its a film that really gets under your skin if you embrace to it. Malick's longest film is also one of his most emotional and thought provoking ones in a way. We show two different worlds colliding with each other. Malick takes a lot of time to really show the idyllic and peaceful life of Austrian villagers, far away from the cruelty of the world, but collides with it when one of the villagers is called in for war but declines. August Diehl wonderfully plays this real life figure and gives a truly tour de force performance. A performance that is only challenged by Valerie Pachner who is just outstanding, especially in the second half of the film. We got the last roles of Bruno Ganz and Michael Nyqvist, although rather cameos than real supporting roles but thats most of the cast expect for Diehl and Pachner as those two actors play characters that embodie the whole emotions of people that are forced into a war they dont want.
Typically for Terrence Malick you are treated with a fantastic cinematography. Unforgettable images of pure and innocent nature. It is fantastic how he links that to the true hell...and combines it (take notice of the constant bird singing in the film) He uses it as its second protagonists and symbol the same time. Also the score by James Newton Howard is fantastic and emotional. It is long yes but except for a section after 2 hours it doesn't feel like it because Malick needs that time to bring the people, their believes and culture close to his audience.
A true masterpiece
summawrestling25 September 2019
A cinematographic tour de force! This is an almost flawless movie and a true metaphysical drama. Probably the best movie of the Toronto international film festival. Base on a true story the photography is breath taking. You have to see it!
Potentially great film spoiled by poor direction.
pkwsbw-122 December 2019
Yes, this film tells a good story, has good acting, and is beautifully filmed, but it is overlong and becomes tedious. The story of a conscientious objector and outsider in greater Germany during World War II is very similar to 2013's "13 Minutes", which is told in a much tighter, traditional pace. I usually don't even know the director's name when I watch a film, but while watching this one, I couldn't help but notice similarities to the near-great but disappointing "The New World" from 2005. Lo and behold, both were directed by Malick, and both suffer from way too many long pauses in the dialogue. To pan around the countryside to show how idyllic a farm community is might work three or four times, but it happens maybe 25 times. Malick should have cut an hour and added connecting dialogue throughout.
So moving and so important!
gabrielsa-0934426 April 2020
What if it was not just one man who stood up against evil? What if each of us did so? This is a beautiful film - a film that everyone should see (but not everyone will like). I gave it ten stars because I believe it is a powerful work of art, even more so than Malick's earlier film "The Tree of Life". I recommend it with all my heart.
Maybe a good film, but not for me
s-1523030 September 2019
Malick tells a story of the forgotten great mind, with the symbolic Mountain Views and water falls. The figure shows the characteristics of the religious saint. However, with the simple storyline and slow path of storytelling in the second half, I find it difficult devoting myself into it.
Terrence Malick's return
Come-and-Review20 November 2019
A Hidden Life is his return to a more linear storyline, albeit Malick's style has been greatly affected by his previous three experimental movies, in a good way.
To The Wonder, Knight of Cups and Song to Song were very interesting experiments, but are very hard to enjoy for most viewers. Malick had to eventually return to utilize a plot.
In the frame of a beautiful alpine scenery, A Hidden Life is a real story of civil disobedience during Nazi Germany. Much as Malick's style dictates, it analises deeply its characters feelings and thoughts, raising questions on the ethics of obeying or disobeying an unjust government. Jagerstatter slowly becomes a silent, Christ-like character, judged by men who are forced to condemn him despite being touched by his determination.
A Hidden Life has a very loose plot. Rather than a structured plot, it feels like the more or less random succession of scenes, sometimes shot in that improvisational style that has dominated Malick's last three films. The voice overs however provide a very linear structure to the film, as mostly they are letters written by Franz and his wife to each other. The contents of the voice-overs are less philosophical and more sentimental, every-day related, which reminds of Malick's 70s films Badlands and Days of Heaven, rather than the post-Thin Red Line films.
On a closing note, we must praise the work of Malick's crew: Jörg Widmer, who has replaced Lubetzki for the photography, provides a notable conematographic style that, while mantaining that visual look that Malick's 21st Century films have, has its own beauty and peculiarity. The all-german cast delivered a wonderful english-speaking performance. August Diehl had one particular scene in which he conveyed strong feelings without uttering any word. Viewers might appreciate Bruno Ganz's final appearance in a film, in a Pilatesque role.
I personally believe that this film is among Malick's best, probably second only to The Tree of Life, The Thin Red Line and maybe Days of Heaven. Definitely one of the best movies of this year.
To The Wonder, Knight of Cups and Song to Song were very interesting experiments, but are very hard to enjoy for most viewers. Malick had to eventually return to utilize a plot.
In the frame of a beautiful alpine scenery, A Hidden Life is a real story of civil disobedience during Nazi Germany. Much as Malick's style dictates, it analises deeply its characters feelings and thoughts, raising questions on the ethics of obeying or disobeying an unjust government. Jagerstatter slowly becomes a silent, Christ-like character, judged by men who are forced to condemn him despite being touched by his determination.
A Hidden Life has a very loose plot. Rather than a structured plot, it feels like the more or less random succession of scenes, sometimes shot in that improvisational style that has dominated Malick's last three films. The voice overs however provide a very linear structure to the film, as mostly they are letters written by Franz and his wife to each other. The contents of the voice-overs are less philosophical and more sentimental, every-day related, which reminds of Malick's 70s films Badlands and Days of Heaven, rather than the post-Thin Red Line films.
On a closing note, we must praise the work of Malick's crew: Jörg Widmer, who has replaced Lubetzki for the photography, provides a notable conematographic style that, while mantaining that visual look that Malick's 21st Century films have, has its own beauty and peculiarity. The all-german cast delivered a wonderful english-speaking performance. August Diehl had one particular scene in which he conveyed strong feelings without uttering any word. Viewers might appreciate Bruno Ganz's final appearance in a film, in a Pilatesque role.
I personally believe that this film is among Malick's best, probably second only to The Tree of Life, The Thin Red Line and maybe Days of Heaven. Definitely one of the best movies of this year.
Far too long
wfredericks8 September 2020
I could have cut this down to 2 hours easily. The executioner was wealthy after working for the Nazis no matter the method used. And guess who hired him after the war to execute war criminals yea that's right the Allies!
Beautiful and tragic
CineasteNorth22 August 2020
Classic Terence Malik. A sweepingly beautiful landscape houses this story of an Austrian man who sacrifices everything to uphold his principles -- refusing to swear allegiance to Hitler during WWII. It's a long quiet unfolding of what it's like to be made a pariah in your community and country.
Good movie, too long
marcotoru_30 May 2020
The plot is well adapted, you empathize with characters for obvious reasons: family and respecting your own ideas.
Have to say, I have so much trouble with the editing.
Also, a very long movie, some scenes are useless, that makes this movie kind of slow.
In the end great movie, good acting for no experienced actors (except for the principal), great screenplay, and the cinematography and score are just the best of the movie.
Artsy movie, understandable if you get bored, but it's almost imposible to understand someone can hate it or give it a 1/10.
It's Malick being Malick
keptrealinteresting5 January 2020
Terence Malick has made some unique and wonderful films. This time, I feel he's reached a 'style over substance' moment that can't be overlooked. The story of a conscientious objector during WWII is certainly a workable topic. But this movie seems determined to be another ethereal art piece that's sort of a movie. The narrative is kept simple, not reaching the soulful depths i was expecting. The cinematography is fine but it's not life-changing. I mean, the location is really the star, and the angles and shots are merely relaying a background of beauty; in other words, filming in the Bavarian Alps you tend to get a lot of breathtaking shots. So what you end up getting is three hours of overindulgence in movie-making, and not a satisfying experience. I think Malick's deepest fan base will like it, but objectively, I don't see the greatness in this film, but perhaps great material to debate in a college classroom.
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