Terrence
Malick is and always will be an important contributor to the cinematic medium
to learn from and respect. He has also
arguably hit a bit of an artistic rut in recent times following the heights
defined by his still divisive Palme d’Or winner The Tree of Life. With his
sprawling and abstract last three films Knight
of Cups, Voyage of Time and Song to Song, we saw the once patiently
planned and precise filmmaker rapidly churning out films whose signature style
bordered on self-parody at best and indulgent at worst.
While
not overtly bad (I enjoyed all three), for a filmmaker of Malick’s caliber the
films presented for fans as well as detractors what appeared to be a moment of
artistic crisis for the director. Even
publications such as Cineaste
couldn’t help but wonder just ‘What the
Hell happened with Terrence Malick?’, who with their lamenting piece took
umbrage with the unchecked freedom the tools of digital filmmaking granted the
auteur. Whatever your stance on the new
Malick is, clearly not everyone will agree on the value of his current output.
I
am pleased to report the writer-director seems to have listened to his
detractors with his latest and startlingly straightforward offering A Hidden Life. Based on the true life story of Franz
Jägerstätter (played brilliantly by August Diehl), an Austrian farmer and
eventual conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis during WWII
before being arrested and sentenced to death for his defiance, A Hidden Life sees Malick pump the
brakes in favor of telling his most linear and emotionally compelling story
since his first WWII film The Thin Red
Line.
While
retaining his painterly visual style and mannered approach to editing, the
subject and treatment proves to be much more broadly appealing despite amassing
a dense three-hour running time. Despite
being in production since 2016 between the other aforementioned Malick films,
customary of the director’s recent trend of numerous intersecting projects all
happening simultaneously, the finished film is an intimately focused passion
play of one man’s arrest and incarceration and his family’s ordeal of being
ostracized and persecuted by fellow Austrian farmers.
Much
like Scorsese’s Silence, the film is
a spiritual experience told as a visually spectacular period drama about
finding enlightenment in the face of unspeakable atrocities. Unlike Scorsese’s confrontational film,
however, Malick’s A Hidden Life
concerns Franz’s ability to find meaning and reason to press on despite the
weight of the world coming down upon him.
As with his previous features, whispered voiceover narration features
heavily on the soundtrack though in the case of A Hidden Life it gels cohesively with the imagery and draws us
further into Franz’s headspace.
Sonically
as with all of Malick’s films, the film is a thunderstorm of sound ranging from
the pin-drop subtle to the lightning-cracking bombastic. Aiding the film’s rich emotional center is
James Newton Howard’s evocative orchestral original score, compounded with
Malick’s frequent interspersing of preexisting classical tracks. You always know when you’re listening to a
Malick film as though you’re in the presence of a grand concerto, especially
home video owners who always get a trusty director’s note that you should play
the film loud.
Visually,
thanks to cinematographer Joerg Widmer who was a longtime camera operator on
many of Malick’s films, A Hidden Life
is breathtakingly photographed, beautifully capturing the Austrian countryside
in panoramic widescreen with the director’s trademark wide-angled lenses. In one or two key sequences, the film even
utilizes first-person point-of-view photographic techniques to further emphasize
the film as both conventional narrative storytelling and experiential
cinema. All in all, it’s an achingly
gorgeous piece to gaze upon.
A Hidden Life, of course, would
not exist without the right actor in the role of Franz and August Diehl (Inglourious Basterds; Salt) not only looks uncannily like the
real man but he also exudes a variety of emotions in scenes that call for it. Also turning over a strong supporting
performance as Franz’s wife Franziska is Valerie Pachner who is forced to bear
the brunt of being abandoned by her friends and family for standing with her
husband. A Hidden Life is noteworthy for also featuring veteran actors Jürgen Prochnow and Bruno Ganz (in his final
film appearance), though largely Diehl and Pachner’s characters take center
stage.
With all of these elements combined leaving ample
room for what is truly one of Terrence Malick’s very best films in years, A Hidden Life is a deeply moving ode to
man’s capacity for courage to act righteous and good in an evil world even if
he is unjustly punished for his actions.
For Malick, it’s his most focused and emotionally engaging film in years
with lush scenery so staggering in scope it is sure to leave even the most
jaded of the director’s detractors breathless.
Unquestionably among the finest motion pictures of 2019 and a real
comeback for one of cinema’s most treasured craftsmen.
--Andrew Kotwicki