{"id":9944,"date":"2024-12-11T17:27:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T22:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9944"},"modified":"2024-12-11T17:27:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T22:27:32","slug":"a-hidden-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/11\/a-hidden-life\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hidden Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A Hidden Life <\/strong>(2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fox Searchlight\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 174 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (thematic material including violent images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Terrence Malick\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Terrence Malick\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: James Newton Howard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jorg Widmer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 20, 2019 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Michael Nyqvist, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jurgen Prochnow, Bruno Ganz, Alexander Fehling, Ulrich Matthes, Martin Wuttke, Maria Simon, Karen Neuhauser, Franz Rogowski, Tobias Moretti.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $4.6M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: **<\/p>\n

\u00a0I want to start by setting the record straight. I get what A Hidden Life<\/strong> is about, really about. I get what Terrence Malick is going for which is the same thing he\u2019s always gone for in his films. For him, it\u2019s less about the storyline than the weighty philosophical matters associated with the story. Plot is a delivery system for the big questions he\u2019s asking. He doesn\u2019t make movies for mass consumption, he makes films for intellectuals. If you\u2019re familiar with Malick\u2019s work, you know this. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s automatically brilliant or even that interesting.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Fact of the matter is that A Hidden Life<\/strong> is a huge, overlong bore. At an epic length of nearly three hours, it may be beautiful to the naked eye, but it doesn\u2019t do much for the brain. It doesn\u2019t have as much to say as it thinks it does. It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on to seemingly no end. When it finally does end, you\u2019re so relieved to be done with it, you don\u2019t want to stop and think about what you just saw. Sadly, I don\u2019t have that luxury in my capacity as Movie Guy 24\/7.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Malick\u2019s latest drama is based on the life of Franz Jagerstatter (Diehl, Inglorious Basterds), an Austrian farmer whose idyllic life is shattered when he\u2019s called to fight for Germany in WWII. A devout Catholic and conscientious objector, he refused to serve or take an oath of loyalty to Hitler. He\u2019s subsequently imprisoned, tried and sentenced to death. He was later (64 years later!) declared a martyr by the Pope and beatified.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The first half of A Hidden Life<\/strong> centers on Franz\u2019s pre-war life with his wife Franziska (Pachner, The Ground Beneath My Feet) and three young daughters. He works the land and plays with his children. He\u2019s well-liked by his neighbors in the small mountain village of St. Radegund. When Hitler comes into power, Franz makes it clear he doesn\u2019t support him or the war. Everybody including the village priest (Moretti, Cold Hell) tries to talk sense into him, but his mind is made up. As a result, he and his family are ostracized by their neighbors.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the second half, Franz\u2019s number comes up. He has a huge decision to make although his choice is never in doubt. He is a man of principles. He doesn\u2019t agree with Hitler\u2019s agenda and nothing will change his mind. When he reports, he sticks to his guns and ends up in prison where he\u2019s routinely harassed, threatened, beaten and humiliated by guards. His own lawyer begs him to sign an oath so he can go free. Franz holds steady right up until the minute of his date with the guillotine.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although I hate to resort to clich\u00e9s, it\u2019s true if you\u2019ve seen one or two Terrence Malick films, you\u2019ve seen them all. A Hidden Life<\/strong> contains the usual beats and earmarks of a TM film: glacial pace (others call it \u201ccontemplative\u201d or \u201cmeditative\u201d), frequent voiceover narration, clipped dialogue and long, lingering shots of random images. Once again, nature is reflective of the dichotomy of the human soul as being both beautiful and cruel. The religious themes are obvious, almost painfully so. Like Jesus, Franz is a martyr. Then, of course, is the most obvious thing of all. With his story of a decent man persecuted by all around him for not drinking the Kool-Aid and blindly following a maniacal leader, he\u2019s drawing a parallel to our times and a certain divisive Commander-in-Chief. A blind man can see this. I also get that Malick wants us to consider not only Franz\u2019s actions, but the effect his personal moral choices have on his loved ones. Is he being selfish or true to himself in refusing to budge? Blah, blah, blah and so on and so on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I realize I\u2019m opening myself up to a full-on assault by snobby cinephiles and pseudo-intellectuals who look down on every movie that isn\u2019t a graduate thesis. They hate people like me who aren\u2019t afraid to call out filmmakers like Malick on their BS. Well, I don\u2019t really give a damn what they think about me or my reviews. I know what I like and don\u2019t like and I don\u2019t like A Hidden Life<\/strong>. It\u2019s freaking boring, that\u2019s the bottom line. Even though it\u2019s a half hour shorter, it still feels longer than The Irishman. I\u2019ll grant that A Hidden Life<\/strong> is well-intentioned and the cinematography by Jorg Widmer, Malick\u2019s go-to guy since The New World, is gorgeous. I\u2019ll even allow that the acting is quite good. The problem is that I lost interest well before the end.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I get that Malick\u2019s films aren\u2019t for everybody. He has an alienating style that Joe Moviegoer simply won\u2019t relate to. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m all for films that don\u2019t follow the same artistic path as every big blockbuster-type movie that plays at multiplexes all year around. I love films that make me think, that get my mind swirling. What I don\u2019t love are long-winded ones that don\u2019t really say anything. A Hidden Life<\/strong> didn\u2019t speak to me at all. That\u2019s not to say others will feel the same. I\u2019m sure some of you will disagree with my assessment. To that, I say bring it on.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Hidden Life (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fox Searchlight\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 174 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (thematic material including violent images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Terrence Malick\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Terrence Malick\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: James Newton Howard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jorg Widmer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 20, 2019 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Michael Nyqvist, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jurgen Prochnow, Bruno Ganz, Alexander Fehling, Ulrich Matthes, Martin Wuttke, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/A-Hidden-Life-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9944"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10311,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9944\/revisions\/10311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}