La vita nascosta - Hidden Life

You feel than it is a film by Terrence Malick. And, knowing before the first scenes the story of Franz Jagestatter you have the certitude than nobody except him can give, in fair manner, the story of the Austrian blessed. Sure, the image and the storytelling and the perfect cast. But more. A sort of thrill about a delicate theme not so easy to present in right way. And a great film about conscience against dictatorship. The source of force -,off course, is the image but, more important, the status of contemporary story. It represents a form of warning. Clear and high precise send to us.

"Better to suffer injustice than to do it..."

I don't have many words tonight. A lot of thoughts and emotions. I didn't expect a perfect score from me this year, but I am just floored and overwhelmed by the visual poetry and spiritual magnitude of it all. It feels transcendent. With a beauty that permeates all the way to one's own relationship with God.

Based on true events, A Hidden Life is Malick's most direct exploration of faith since To the Wonder, and perhaps his most fully realized work yet. It is an allegorical story about a man of extraordinary faith. A real-life parable of perseverance and free will. A spiritual journey centered in not just our humanity, but on what it means to truly walk the steps of Christ. And on what it means to choose what we believe is right and just, when we are given every reason not to.

Malick doesn't glorify the central character's ideals or deeds. Rather we focus on the humble threads of love and the storm they weather--and the romantic chemistry is perfect. August Diehl & Valerie Pachner are both exceptional and so incredibly in love. Seconds into the film and you already know it. Pachner gives a particularly moving performance deserving of an Oscar nomination (she is in SF this week doing Q&A's!). Every touch, glance, or embrace between these two is personal, powerful, believable. You can see the stress leave their shoulders each time they first see each other. Sincerity fills the screen as their thoughts, worries, desires, and personal bond resurface in the context of God.

The cinematography is superb, with DP notably credited to Jörg Widmer and not Emmanuel Lubezki. There is a rare seamless quality achieved blending in old footage as well as in choosing to entirely forgo subtitles in a film spoken in equal parts English and German. The music is the best I've heard all year. A beautiful traditional theme by James Newton Howard (Blood Diamond, TDK) with Handel, Dvorak, and other great classical works mixed in.

A Hidden Life is a film that may stay with you for some time. This is quintessential Malick, joining the ranks of The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life. Go in with an open mind and heart, ready for a spiritual experience.

Malick at his best. The actors, some of them well known in the German speaking world, shift between English end German. I did not believe this could work, but it does. Cinematic poetry, powerful. a film worth 3 hours.

Saw this in Toronto and felt privileged to be in a world where a movie like this is made and a story like this is told. Based on letters written between a husband and wife while he is in jail for being a conscientious objector in Hitler's Austria. So heartbreaking to see how the village where he lived, all friends and neighbours for decades - all become his enemies as he is the only one willing to say No. And yet he is strong in his convictions and sustained by love.

I like slow, absorbing films as much as the next guy. But really, this should NOT be a three-hour film. You do feel something for the characters. But the film is not that well executed. There doesn't seem to be enough background to the story -- we don't see, as one might expect. a protagonist with historical ties to the land, with deep-seated friendships and relationships that are tested. And the wrestling of his soul is protracted yet also seems somehow light and not consequential. But the length is my biggest gripe. A two-hour movie would have been better.