![\"Image](\"https:\/\/i.redd.it\/zhg4pb2se4231.jpg\")
<\/p>\nReviewed by Ian Overton. Viewed at AFI Film Festival 2019.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Terence Malick films are transcendent. When you enter the movie theater you should abandon all preconceptions about what a movie is or what it should be because <\/span>A Hidden<\/span><\/i> Life <\/span><\/i>is an experience first and foremost. If narrative driven actions, dramas, or even romances are your sole criteria for what makes good cinema then this is not for you. Through incredible sound, camera, and acing work, Malick has created a whole new world and one that needs to be experienced in the theater. Though three stationery hours (yes it is that long) is an extremely daunting task especially for madmen like myself, the world and sensory immersion can only be felt on the big screen.<\/span><\/p>\n At the Chinese Theater for the 2019 AFI Film Festival, the experience was unlike any other film screening I had seen before. Reminiscent of his previous film <\/span>The Tree of Life, <\/span><\/i>Malick focuses predominantly on authenticity in his atmosphere and world building. August Diehl (<\/span>Inglourious Basterds<\/span><\/i>) and his counterpart Valerie Pachner (<\/span>The Ground Beneath My Feet<\/span><\/i>) remarkably emulate a beautiful and wonderful family dynamic.<\/span><\/p>\n The narrative of the film is rather simple, it begins in their dreamlike hometown. Scenes of playing in the fields, reaping the grass, and caring for their children serve to develop the simple and joyful life they had created for themselves. The earthy and natural atmosphere however is contradicted by the evil black and white footage of Hitler\u2019s rise to power composed of dark boots marching in unison, blank faces heiling, and fascist flags looming over. Despite the hopes of the two protagonists conscription comes. Yet Franz\u2019s refusal also comes with the judgement and hatred of his community members, the same ones he had been drinking and dancing with just nights before. His disobedience eventually comes with a death sentence and begs the question do we have the right to willingly give up our life? Is freedom of the mind really worth more than that of your body? Harkening back to Socrates the film postulates \u201cit is better to suffer injustice than to commit it.\u201d Religion plays a central role within the film and developing Franz\u2019s Christ like actions relies heavily upon this statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Most of the shots and scenes within the film don\u2019t drive the narrative in any way but are rather used to evoke emotions within the audience. The soft wind breezing through the tall grass, the way the sunlight falls upon Franziska\u2019s (Valerie Pachner) hair, and children playing against the majestic Austrian mountains. Fantastic performances from August Diehl and the aforementioned Valerie Pachner help to conjure a real and true family dynamic like a distant memory, something that could only be birthed out of nostalgia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Terrence Malick films can certainly only be compared to other Malick films so it seems <\/span>Tree of Life <\/span><\/i>is the only other one within the same ballpark. The film is entirely driven by the atmosphere he has become so famous for creating. Shots of the mountains of Austria are remind the viewer of the cosmos and nether in <\/span>Tree of Life <\/span><\/i>and the sort of powerlessness man has to nature and powers that be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A Hidden Life <\/span><\/i>is an experience that can only truly be felt in front of the big screen. Though its three hour run time is a bit of a dampener, the beauty of the film is truly enchanting and captivating and worth every minute. Terrence Malick\u2019s films are the closest thing to poetry on screen we will see in this lifetime and if that\u2019s not your cup of tea, then don\u2019t bother.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Ian Overton. Viewed at AFI Film Festival 2019. Terence Malick films are transcendent. When you enter the movie theater you should abandon all preconceptions about what a movie is or what it should be because A Hidden Life is an experience first and foremost. If narrative driven actions, dramas, or even romances are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247791,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afi-filmfest-2019","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/247791"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45740,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45530\/revisions\/45740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}