Cast: August Diehlo, Michael Nyqvist, Valerie Pachner, Matthias Schoenaerts, Bruno Ganz, Martin Wuttke and Alexander Fehling. Director: Terrence Malick.
Leave it up to around the end of the year for Hollywood to release most of their best work. In “The Tree of Life” (2011) Malick’s 3 hour fantasy/drama struck a cord with audiences and earned him a lot of praise as he surfaced from hibernation from previous work duties. Seven endless years later he’s back in “A Hidden life” with his hands and feet in another masterpiece. This latest effort of Malick’s comes to us with pure passion and conviction and tells the story set in 1939 Austria of a farming couple Franz Jagerstatter (August Dielh) and his wife Fani (Valerie Pachner) devoted to their tight-knit community, families crops and church.
The time comes when all healthy men get a memo to sign stating they must go to war. That news doesn’t go well with Franz as he objects to being drafted mostly for religious reasons.
Being a devoted religious couple they would not support Hitler’s regime and and go to war even though Jagerstter went through his military training but after France took a knee to the Germany army, the farmers were given a sense of relief and were able to return to their crops and families. Time elasped and word got out about his dislike of Hitler. He was recalled again in 1943 to fight against the Nazis with the end result being certain doom if he declined.
This is a beautifully filmed movie and through the Catholic church wall paintings presented a smile where Franz seeks help from the priest (Tobias Moretti) only to discover the church does not support him and appealing to a panel of bishops, one being the late Michael Nyqvist, falls upon deaf ears as well. His wife and three daughters get dirt thrown at them as others think he should fight. When the final curtain falls and this short three hour movie comes to an end Franz, who’s dialogue is sparse but sure, faces his judgement handed down by Judge Lueben (Bruce Ganz in a short appearance).
There are no explosions, no tanks and zero machine guns but this is a war movie, a romance movie and an epic biography based on a true story that commands attention. The film opens Friday, December 13. This is Michaels Nyqvist’s and Bruce Ganz’s last film together after their respective deaths on 2017 and 2019. The film opens on December 13. *****
