The Austrian Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II.
Terrence Malick arrived “on the scene” in 1973 when his first feature film, “Badlands,” starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek premiered at the New York Film Festival. But his first big splash came five years later with “Days of Heaven” when he won Best Director at Cannes while the film was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or. Then twenty years long years went by before “The Thin Red Line” appeared. And now, another twenty years have passed (although “Tree of Life” was nestled in-between) and “A Hidden Life” – all 173 minutes of it – has arrived on the big screen. It was well worth the wait.
“A Hidden Life,” based on actual events, stars August Diehl (“Inglourious Basterds”) as Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter who refused to swear allegiance to Nazi Germany. The story is advanced in a linear narrative through letters exchanged between Franz and his loving wife Fani (Valerie Pachner). Although a devoted husband and father, his faith and conscience prevent him from fighting for the Nazis all the while knowing that his resistance will surely be met with imprisonment or worse, execution.
I acknowledge, it sounds harsh – a brutal concept stretched almost 3 hours. But Malick wisely abandons his experimental proclivities for a grander cinematic narrative. Every shot is framed as if it’s to be hung in a museum – the green fields that seem to go on forever, the panorama of Austrian mountains and joyful village celebrations. Even the stormy skies that symbolize the fury that will soon engulf Europe are filmed with a wide-angle lens that allows us to witness more than we possibly could with our own eyes.
The very core of the film is the love story between Franz and Fani, both silent heroes, lovingly dedicated to each other, their children and faith. He stands up to the totalitarian regime, while she must endure the enmity of the villagers. Perhaps if others had strong convictions like Franz and had risked their own existence for their beliefs.
The film concludes with a quote from George Eliot’s classic book Middlemarch: “….for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
I hope we don’t have to wait another twenty years for Malick to share his brilliant writing and knack for storytelling.
Now available on Digital HD and Movies Anywhere and on Blu-ray and DVD March 17th
