A Hidden Life

Best film ever

I feel his films before I understand them

Rather long true story of a young woman who knows her husband will be called to join the German army during ww2. She is very religious and is anxious to prevent the husband from going out to murder. Eventually he is collected by the army but refuses to become a soldier and as a result is prisoned. Due to his refusal all back at home know and put the wife through an extreme tough time. Plus he is tortured in prison.Because it is a true story I watched all, but if not true it would need to be an hour shorter. It is similar to Hawksaw Ridge where the young soldier wanted to join the army to help during the war but refused to use a gun for religious purposes also. That film was also true and a lot action which would even entertain elderly people.

This is a long film (over three hours), but patience with it is rewarded. It is based on the true story of a farmer, Franz Jagerstatter (apologies for the missing umlauts), who refuses to swear allegiance to Hitler because, as a staunch Catholic, he believes Hitler is the anti-Christ. The result is imprisonment, humiliation and, eventually, execution. Franz is a Pilgrim, and in the course of his pilgrimage he is rejected by his neighbours, by the Catholic Church, and destroyed by the machinery of the Nazi State. And, as with many pilgrims, there are those who offer him the easy way out, including the Archbishop of Salzburg and a sympathetic senior General of the court that convicts him. (The unhappy history of the Catholic Church in the Nazi period is not ignored.) I don't know if Malick had Bunyan in mind, but the similarity is there, even if the outcome is different.So far, so bad. But in the end the film is uplifting. There are two reasons: one is the unshakable love between Franz and his family. Flashbacks show the beginning of their love, and the the film begins with them working (and fooling around) together in the fields. This is the second reason why the film is uplifting: the scenery is glorious, of lush green fields set against the Austrian mountains. Malick pulls no punches about the hard labour involved in farm work, which becomes an even greater burden for Frani, his wife, and their children, once Franz is imprisoned. The consequences for them of Franz's defiance is reflected on many occasions. One particular moving moment is when, excluded from the Church, the family echo the Sunday service in the fields. But, as the film proceeds, some of the villagers are moved to kindness by the difficulties of Frani's life. A wheel falls off Frani's cart when she takes her produce to market, depositing much of the food on the ground. A passing older woman helps Frani put the food back and repair the wheel. The local miller grinds her grain, and helps her carry the burden back the waiting donkey. Mention must be made, too, of Frani's animals: the affection that she feels for her horse and donkey is shown several times, for they too are part of the family. Moreover, the hardship of Frani's life does not prevent her from acts of kindness. A particularly moving moment is when a gaunt, starving woman stands on the far side of the fence as Frani is harvesting. Without a word, Frani hands over some of her hard-won harvest to the woman.In these ways Frani is as important to the film as Franz. He is killed, but Frani's life goes on. The earth, with its cycle of the seasons, survives, recalling the repeated closing "ewig, ewig" of Mahler's song cycle, Das Lied von der Erde. The movie takes it title from George Eliot: it is the hidden lives of ordinary people that lie at the core of history. Fritz's execution therefore becomes a transfiguration. The comparison with Jesus is clear, even for a non-Christian like me. Take your time with this film; it is worth it.

August Diehl is an excellent actor, both happy to act in German and English, and he is outstanding in this film. Mallick has a very painterly eye when it comes to evoking the Austrian countryside and how tough daily life was for peasant farmers. Franz and his wife Fani are blissfully happy with their three daughters but that idyll is shattered when the Wehrmacht come calling to get men into uniform. Franz, during his training, is made aware of what Germany is doing and sees newsreels from the front line. His reaction is horror and he feels he cannot swear the oath of allegiance to Hitler, as all soldiers were ordered to do. He seeks advice from his local priest and later has an audience with the bishop. Both are unsuccessful as the clergy are too frightened of the State intervening. Franz is sent to prison where he is brutally treated but the final result will be his death for treason as he has refused to fight for the Fatherland. In my view, the film could have been edited to 2 or 2.5 hours as the pace is very, very slow. Beautiful, yes, but definitely an art house film and not one for general release.

This dvd does not play!.

Finally, Terrence Mallick is back with a narrative and a script! He's telling a story, somewhat like Tree of Life and the movies before. This is, like slow cooking, for those who have a delicate palate... with the typical Mallick ingredients: voice over, wide-angle lenses, classical music etc. and a heart felt story. The movie loses one star for this reason: the rediculous accent (non-native speakers of English speaking English with a German accent, and the mixed moral attitude towards the Roman Catholic Church.

Waited a good few weeks for this to arrive. I was particularly excited to watch it. When I took it out of the package the first thing I noticed is that the box was really flimsy, like what you'd expect if you bought a copy from a car-boot-sale. Worst of all though, the DVD didn't work when putting into a DVD player. I tried multiple devices but had the same issue. The issue being that it was not the correct format for the UK, I was presented with 'incorrect region code'.