That war can tear families apart like nothing else has been proven in many films. Recent ones like 1917, Midway and The Aftermath are the perfect example of that. Now, also writer/director Terrence Malick is showing us the heartbreaking and life-changing consequences war has. His A Hidden Life follows a young couple whose relationship is being torn apart by bullets, battles and a brutal regime. The result? An everlasting, visually stunning and wonderful movie.
Fani Jägerstätter (Valerie Pachner) and Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl) are two wonderful, loving and hardworking parents. Together with their two young daughters, they live a busy agricultural life in Austria. While they don’t have much luxury, as long as they have each other, they’re the one happy couple.
However, behind that happiness, there’s some darkness. While they’re friendly to everyone from the village, people are looking upon them with aversion and dislike. This is because both Fani and Franz refuses to bring “Heil Hitler,” to contribute to a Nazi petition, or to accept a cash subsidy for family coming from the war. Because of that, people make their lives much more difficult by stealing their goods.
Sadly, life will become even worse for Fani and Franz when Franz has to enroll in the military service. He leaves his family with a pain but still with the same strong mindset which involves refusing to praise Hitler and his ideology. However, this might lead to his eviction. He can escape that eviction and return to his family if he finally decides to support Hitler. Franz is facing the most difficult choice in his life. Giving up the things he believes in and seeing his family again or losing his wife and children because he doesn’t want to give in?
That A Hidden Life isn’t only about perseverance and the feeling that the war isn’t going to end anything soon, doesn’t become clear by the story but also by the almost three-hour running time of the movie. It seems quite long (and yes it could have been much shorter) but many elements will make sure that you will watch A Hidden Life from the first second to the very last one.
The strongest element is without a doubt the stunning and captivating cinematography that comes from Jörg Widmer, who already worked with Malick during The Tree of Life. He brings that poetic and romantic vibe of the loving couple beautiful to life but at the same time, he also knows how to strongly represent the dark and hard time during the war. Just like in his previous movies, his signature style (that includes wide shots of the planet, the natural elements, and the beautiful blue sky) is incredibly present. This makes A Hidden Life even more captivating and beautiful.
What makes this film such a fascinating one is the great use of voice-overs. Once Franz has to leave his family, his entire story, as well as Fani’s, is being told by voice-over. This is mostly because of the multiple letters this devoted couple exchanged for many months. Alongside that aspect, there’s also the importance of the languages in this film. Those really highlight the “good versus evil” vibe even more.
Whenever it’s someone using strong language or showing his or her anger, it’s being done in German. German is also used during the trial scenes that involve Nazi prosecutors. We only hear English or Austrian when the scenes are more loving, beautiful and uplifting. That Malick knows how to use language in the best way possible becomes clear in A Hidden Life.
While this movie is set during World War II, it doesn’t show any bombastic or over-the-top war scenes. No, in this film it’s all about emotions, human relationships and the sweet letters exchanged between lovers. Those aspects are brought intensely by Pachner (The Ground Beneath My Feet, Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden) and Diehl (Inglourious Basterds, Salt). Their performances are both subtle but also very present and emotionally expressive but also calm at the same time.
Sadly, they don’t get the opportunity to show their potential to the fullest due to the overuse of voice over. It would have been much better if some of those voice-overs were replaced by real dialogue during certain scenes. The emotions and chemistry between the leading characters would be much more effective.
Ok, if we’re very honest, this latest Malick movie doesn’t reach the same level as his The Tree of Life. This is due to the duration of the film, the too many shots of the landscape and unfilling the potential of human emotions. However, if you want to see a visually beautiful and wonderous film about love, family, war and standing up for what you believe in, then you should check out A Hidden Life.
A Hidden Life will be in UK cinemas from the 17th of January
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