A Hidden Life

It’s been a long time but we finally got a pretty straight forward film from Terrance Malick.  It’s also a true story about an Austrian named Franz Jagerstatter who refused to fight for the Nazi’s during World War II and was imprisoned.  I had never heard of him before but apparently his story is well known in Catholic circles as a shining example of never giving in to evil, even temporarily, for one’s own survival.

Jagerstatter’s stance comes at a price beyond his own life though.  His wife, Fani, and their young children are harassed and shunned in their town of St. Radegund.  Their neighbors pick fights, steal their crops, spit on them and give them dirty ass looks.  The villagers think Franz isn’t being loyal to his country or rising to the call of duty.

The story eventually splits off into two with one thread following Franz’s stay in prison and the other showing Fani’s life at home without her beloved husband.  Both have it hard but Franz definitely has it worse.  He’s humiliated, beaten and tortured by the Nazi guards.  Meanwhile Fani has to continue to live in a town that hates her and her kids’ guts.  She also makes days long journeys to different cities pleading for her husband’s life to indifferent bureaucrats.

Many questions are raised such as is it right to stand up for what you believe in even if it means certain death?  Is it ok to go along with the program for a while purely to try to survive?  Is it wrong to knowingly leave your family behind for your beliefs?

These are hard fucking questions man and yea, the movie is really sad.  It’s almost nothing but tragedy after tragedy and Jagerstatter is unshakable in his position.  Like his lawyer keeps waving a piece of paper in front of him which would get him out of prison and into the hospital as an orderly but Franz refuses to sign.  I mean it’s no guarantee he would live to see the end of the war or that the Nazi’s would honor the thing but it’s a glimmer of hope that he never gives a microsecond of thought to.  That’s a helluva strong will.

Interestingly unlike Malick’s earlier WWII picture, The Thin Red Line, this doesn’t contain any actual war footage.  There’s no combat, gunfire, planes, tanks, bombs or anything.  It’s almost like the movie itself is protesting what a war film can be or show.  With all the Nazi imagery though there isn’t any mistaking this for something other than a war picture.  It’s just on a very human level with all the machinery stripped away and it’s incredibly effective.

And of course the cinematography is absolutely stunning with magnificent landscapes and sweeping camera movements to swim in.  Malick does a few different tricks here as well including going to a POV shot a couple of times and inserting real WWII footage.  Other than that it’s the usual insane editing that only makes sense to a small number of people in this world.  And while I’m not one of ‘em it’s still so cool to see every so often.

August Diehl (Allied) and Valerie Pachner as Franz and Fani do a wonderful job.  They have good chemistry when they share screen time making the turmoil that tears their lives apart impactful.  Diehl always has a confident but worrisome expression like he knows what he’s doing is right but the road is going to be extremely painful.  Pachner’s performance is equally impressive because Fani is apoplectic over the situation but has to keep her shit together so she can take care of her children and continue to advocate for Franz’s release.

Despite what I said in the opening Malick’s films are always linear (with the exception of Tree of Life and Voyage of Time) it’s just that they’re so damn hard to follow.  This is the first since The New World (which was about fifteen years ago) where there’s a clear narrative and you don’t have to rack your brain trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.  It’s really nice to pull back from the inner sanctum where Knight of Cups and Song to Song reside.

I recommend this one.  Beside the natural grimness that a WWII movie exudes it gives you plenty to think about.  The film pays homage to those who kept their moral compass in the darkest of days.  We usually hear about the heroes on the battlefields who undeniably deserve our gratitude, but there’s also those who fight evil in their own way by refusing to participate in sadistic bullshit.