Many believe that Malick has floundered with his increasingly poetic and ethereal To the Wonder (2012), Knight of Cups (2015), and Song to Song (2017)-films situated in a contemporary setting and rooted in an aesthetic of impressionistic imagery and structure frequent scenes of twirling joy and pensive expressions of ennui and an opacity that some have incorrectly labeled as non-narrative. But the film has a stirring message-undeniable in our present, analogous condition of rising fascism that has set the world ablaze, just as it had done in the 1930s-that even the smallest protest can have meaning, even if it exists solely within.Įight years have passed since Malick won the Palme d’Or for his arresting, semiautobiographical The Tree of Life, and the subsequent years have proved divisive among critics and cineastes. In many ways a return to form for Malick, in other ways a bold step forward, A Hidden Life dramatizes a crisis of faith in a historical setting. Written and directed by Terrence Malick as a powerful reflection of our present world, the film tells the true story of Franz Jägerstätter, played by August Dielh, a man confronted by the notion that “He who created this world created evil.” When Franz refuses to swear an oath to Adolf Hitler, he goes against the grain of his Christian countrymen who promptly concede to Nazi rule. But the year is 1939, and the idyllic community cannot escape the rise of fascism in their country.
It’s a simple, bucolic existence of uncommon beauty. Amid the lush green hills and misty air, the villagers feel closer to their Christian beliefs of a God in Heaven who “won’t send us more than we can bear.” Their idyllic life consists of hard work in the fields, community gatherings rich with dancing and frivolity, and Sundays at church. Radegund, the community of farmers and peasants has escaped into the mountains, secluded from the modern world.
A Hidden Life sets celestial images of Nature against the most tumultuous period of world history in the last century.
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