_A Hidden Life_ is Terrence Malick’s “prison film.” Thematically
it is a departure, while stylistically it is such a comprehensive
summation of his earlier work it is almost valedictory. The
director has a next project, about the New Testament, in post-process,
but _A Hidden Life_ feels very much like the cumulation of his
fertile, expressionist late period.

All other Malick films circle around a paradise/hell/regeneration
narrative; _Hidden_, shockingly, starts with Evil. The immediate
post-credit sequence, mixing newsreels of Hitler and Nazi
soldiers on parade, is quite shocking; documentary footages
have precedent only in the director’s _Voyage of Time_. Malick’s protagonists are hell-bent types, running around, who keep
searching for things, exploring new worlds and new wonders.
Yet conscientious objector Franz in _Hidden_ guilelessly walks into
jail. Then again, for all their running on earth, the characters in
_Days of Heaven_ and _The Tree of Life_ are trapped in existential
purgatory. In choosing death, Franz (and Private Witt in _The Thin
Red Line_ before him) achieves metaphysical, ultimate freedom.
There can be no weightier topic than the extinguishing of singular consciousness for a director who translated existentialist texts.

Trained as a philosopher, Malick is no stranger to the “problem of
evil,” which for centuries has plagued European world-views constructed around an all-power but inherently merciful deity. There has not
been a truly evil person in Malick’s cinema, and even war in _The
Thin Red Line_ is conceived as nature’s intrinsic propensity for violence
- despite what Sgt. Welsh says about “property” – to be contrasted with the human construct “grace” (Jessica Chastain in _The Tree of Life_).
_A Hidden Life_ finally confronts Evil, in the fear and paranoia that
propel tyrants to power and are in turn exploited by these men,
infecting whole countries. As World War II rages on, the Austrian
villagers turn into foam-at-the-mouth racists, ostracizing Franz’s
wife Fani and their three young girls. If I don’t know better I would
accuse Malick of commenting on contemporary American politics. Over
the course of the film, Fani’s kindness to others and forbearance
slowly win over hostile villagers. These bittersweet scenes are
hard-earned grace notes in a tough, uncompromising work.

_Hidden_ is made with a largely German/Austrian crew. Malick’s long-time cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is replaced by Jorg Widmer, who also
shot the in-progress _The Last Planet_. The editors are all new, and ex-collaborators Sarah Green, Jack Fisk, and Hanan Townshend are all
gone. Despite this, the late-period Malick kinetic editing and evocative
cuts live on. The camera *is* more static, reminiscent of _The Thin Red
Line_ in the early outdoor scenes – as are the almost-Dutch angle camera crane shots on the hillside making every house, tree, and person perilously close to falling over. (The tiny village is perched on slopes even
steeper than hills stormed by U.S. infantry on Guadalcanal.) The
farming techniques seem more labor-intensive and prehistoric than those
used in _The New World_ set in the 17th century, but the wheat harvest is
as pure and golden as it is in _Days of Heaven_. (As is the quality of cinematography.)

The film's second half focuses on Franz’s stint in prison, interspersed
with back-breaking labor and hardship endured by his mother and Fani back
home. He is mostly alone, mocked and tortured by prison guards. Here the
the film's length, exceeding _The Tree of Life_, serves a purpose.
The audience is asked to share the characters’ hidden lives, thoughts, and ennui, as opposed to browsing a voyeuristic drive-by version. The prison scenes force us to reflect on films about prisoners and agonizing crawl
towards capital punishment -- part of _To the Wonder_, Kieslowski’s
_A Short Film about killing_, but above all, Bresson. Malick’s depiction
of Franz’s fellow prisoners, most of whom don’t get to speak but are made unforgettable by their distinct mannerisms, recall _A Man Escape_,
which I just rewatched. (The devout Franz himself would be more at
home in _ Joan of Arc_ and _Diary of a Country Priest_). During these sequences one cannot also avoid recalling the imprisonment done in our
name to “make us safe": in for-profit jails that enrich mutual funds, black-sites of dubious legality, Abu Graib, and Guantanamo where torture
and humiliation are routine.

The round-headed August Diehl imbues Franz with a bent-back humility;
he is a spiritual pilgrim, a mirror image of Malick’s other more
out-going protagonists. Valerie Pachner’s Fani is all angles and planes, whose initial doubts of her Husband’s momentous moral choices slowly hardens into acceptance. She also excels in the immensely physical farming scenes. I watched the very good _Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden_ to
scout her work in advance, just as I sought out _Jolene_ before _The
Tree of Life_. Pachner may not be Jessica Chastain but she could be the
next Sandra Huller. The late Bruno Ganz, who famously embodied Hitler
in _Downfall_, here plays a reasonable Nazi judge who nevertheless
condemns Franz to the guillotine. Like Franz's lawyer, Ganz's judge
warns the prisoner that his deeds will be forgotten. Still Franz
sticks with his conviction. Ultimately history and cinema prove his interrogators wrong. And like Bresson before him, Malick’s
sympathy lies with youths. His protagonists never grow to the
director's, or Ganz's age. They tend to die young, but occasionally
partake of Malick’s evolving wisdom.

(for A.)

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