HISTORY of WAR REVIEWS
A HIDDEN LIFE
A DEEPLY SPIRITUAL DEPICTION OF RESISTANCE TO FASCISM DURING WARTIME
Director: Terrence Malick Starring: August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Franz Rogowski, Bruno Ganz Distributor: Fox Searchlight Released: Out now
WWII conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter was declared a martyr in 2007 and beatified by the Catholic Church. How a peasant from the tiny Alpine village of St Radegund, Austria, came to be so elevated in theological circles is beautifully examined and explained in director Terrence Malick’s mighty, soaring drama. Spearheaded by a deeply affecting performance from German star August Diehl, A Hidden Life tackles profound themes with intellectual rigour and purpose, offering valuable insight into the mental strength it takes to resist pressure to conform.
Inspired by letters Jägerstätter penned in prison to his wife, as well as a movie about a man’s stand against the poison of the Third Reich, it is the grandest love story. Those familiar with Malick’s demanding, experimental, introspective aesthetic will give themselves over entirely to this three-hour epic, which at once feels cosmic and intimate. A general audience, however, might find it a bit heavy-going. Akin to a hike over inhospitable terrain in a blizzard, perhaps. Consider this a warning. Although spoken in the English language, with other scenes curiously in unsubtitled German, A Hidden Life is not your standard-issue war film or melodrama. Its narrative is elliptical, the dialogue is romantic, the tone serious-minded. Malick has carved out a unique career in American cinema and he has a penchant for tackling historical subjects. Those who recall the director’s previous foray into the Second World War, The Thin Red Line (1999),
