A Hidden Life (Movie Review)

A Hidden Life
Directed and Written by Terrence Malick

Austrian farmer Franz Jagerstatter (August Diehl) has a happy life. Him and his wife Fani (Valerie Pachner) are deeply in love and have three beautiful children. They live in a small farming village in the mountains among beautiful scenery and clear fresh streams. They work hard but even that is a communal exercise with the whole community joining together to work in harmony. Then World War II starts and Franz is called up to join the army. He does his time but over the course of his service he begins to doubt whether his cause, specifically serving Hitler, is the right thing to do. When he is called up a second time to serve, Franz decides that he cannot in good conscience swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler. I think we can all predict what will happen if he continues to refuse that oath and that is the crux of the movie. Will he or won't he?

The acting in the movie is superb with Diehl and Pachner looking exactly like they should. Like ordinary people dealing with very chaotic and stressful situations. They never overact. They never chew up the scenery with melodrama. They cry but they're never holding their fists in the air screaming "WHY ME, GOD!!!???". Both of the characters show a quiet strength even in their most trying moments where a weaker person might break.

I am currently reading a biography of Hitler and was astonished as I was reading that Hitler received at some points 99% approval votes from the German people. I was aghast at the insanity of the populace following this maniac but then I started thinking about the 1% that DIDN'T vote for him. Who were they? Why did they vote the way they did? How did they withstand the social pressures of the other 99%? Would I have been taken in by his madness if I had been a German back then?

Well, with this movie I got to see the fate of ONE of the 1% that fought back in the only way he felt he could. I understood what Franz was doing and why and approved of it, but half of me also DISAPPROVED of his refusal to serve. I'll explain. Because of his stubbornness, he knew that he might at some point be put to death. That's fine if you're a single man. Stand up for your rights, your ideals. If you want to sacrifice your life for them, so be it.

The problem I had with Franz is that he was NOT alone. He had a wife and three young daughters that needed him. Me, personally, I would swear an oath to Satan himself if it meant I would still be around to take care of my family. I would do what it would take to survive if it meant I could still be there for them. This issue reminded me a lot of the movie Silence where priests were forced to renounce their faith to stop the torture of other Christians. The Japanese of that film were much like the Nazis in this movie, constantly tempting the protagonist with phrases like "it's only words" and "do you think you holding out is going to make any difference?"

It also reminded me of a memoir I read about a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz who helped his Nazi captors by cleaning out the ovens used to cremate his brothers and sisters. Who helped bury the dead bodies of his fellow Jews. He did what he had to to survive.

What is the correct choice? Die for your ideals, for your beliefs? Or say some words in order to survive? I think every human being has to listen to their heart if it came to that. Me, I would have said the oath and survived. For my wife and children. A war ends. Hitler would not have stayed in power forever. Things can always change tomorrow. Except when you're dead.

Because I was conflicted about what Franz was doing, I had a hard time making it through the movie. We didn't just see the consequences of what was happening to HIM in prison, but we also had to watch what was happening to his wife and kids due to his decision. Luckily, her sister lived with her and helped her out with the farm work but pretty much the whole village turns on her and ostracizes her.

To me, a weakness of the film was that it was overripe. Everything seemed to go on too long. The idyllic beginning, Franz's agonizing brooding about his choice, his prison stay, his wife's hardships. It all just seemed to go way too long. The movie should have been 2 hours instead of almost 3. It did cross my mind to leave the theater because I was tired.

Everytime I hear about the director Terrence Malick he's mentioned with almost austere and reverential words like he's some godlike director like Kubrick or Kurosawa or something. Like every one of his movies should be an EVENT. A Christ-like Second Coming. To be honest, I've only ever seen one of his films, The Thin Red Line, and thought it was dull and boring. It was like a war movie with very little war. I just remember a lot of big name stars playing forgettable parts and being bored out of my skull and thinking it was a awful film. But critics thought it was a masterpiece for some reason.

Something technical I did not like about A Hidden Life was Malick's shooting style. The picture itself has a weird fishbowl effect that focuses intensely on the main characters but produces an annoying warping effect for everyone and everything around them. Yeah, I get it. Focus on Franz and Fani. Always, to the exclusion of everything around them. I get it.

I got used to the fishbowl but there was something even more disconcerting. Camera placement. Jesus. Malick felt like a STALKER. At points I felt as though the camera was resting on the neck of Fani. Was the camera some sort of cybernetic extension of the actors? Like they press a button and a piece of fake flesh opens and a camera with biological residue hanging off it rises out of their body? Again, I get that Malick was trying to make you a part of the film. But to me, the camera felt intrusive, like an unwanted guest showed up and started sticking an iPhone in your face and chasing you filming everything you do and say. Like a weird papparazzi. Because even when characters would leave the frame, the camera pursues them, running after them like a pestering wolf or the kid everyone hates.

Something else I also found creepy and kinda comedic was that the whole film was shot from chest level. I almost put in an LOL right there because it makes me laugh. I felt like it was being filmed by Frodo Baggins or maybe even Gimli the dwarf . I never understood what the point of that angle was. I felt like at some point the characters were going to break the wall and say "um, can you stop following us?" Even with shots of the kids, it goes down to chest level. Like some creeper kneeling at your window outside of your house spying on you.

I think Terrence Malick is an idiot with no clue as to how to film or pace a movie. He is the furthest thing from genius. But like his other movies, probably the critics will lap this one up and it will go directly to The Criterion Collection. Me, I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid.

My Grade: C