![]() Though it privileges the voices of multiple characters - by now, a Malick signature - there can be no question that Franz represents the film’s hero. By contrast, “A Hidden Life” depicts the proactive decision a single would-be soldier makes not to yield to the boiling bloodlust, but instead to follow what the director has previously dubbed “the way of grace.” In that then-radical tone poem, Malick focused on how ill-suited a group of American infantrymen were to the role of combat, melding their interior monologues and interchangeable faces in tragic tribute to the waste of innocence that is war. By contrast, “A Hidden Life” brings Malick back to the realm of more traditional, linear narrative, while extending his impulse to give as much weight to wildlife and the weather as he does to human concerns.īetter suited to the director’s adherents than the uninitiated, “A Hidden Life” could be seen as a continuation of themes raised in 1998’s “The Thin Red Line,” which also took place during WWII, albeit halfway around the world. Over the past decade - during which Malick made his Palme d’Or-winning magnum opus, “The Tree of Life” whispery self-doubt drama “To the Wonder” and cost-of-celebrity critique “Knight of Cups” and its music-world equivalent, “Song to Song” - has any filmmaker delved deeper in exploring, and ultimately exorcizing, his own demons? With the benefit of hindsight, those four features represent a cycle of increasingly avant-garde, if ebbingly effective semi-autibiographical projects. Here, it is the fate of one man’s soul that’s at play, and nearly three hours of screen time doesn’t seem the slightest bit excessive when it comes to capturing the sacrifice of Franz (German actor August Diehl), who was ostracized, imprisoned, and ultimately executed for his convictions. A refulgent return to form from one of cinema’s vital auteurs, “A Hidden Life” pits the righteous against the Reich, and puts personal integrity over National Socialism, focusing on the true story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter’s rejection of Adolf Hitler and his refusal to serve in what he sees as an unjust war.Īnd lest that sound like more flower-power finger-painting from a director whose oeuvre can sometimes feel like a parody of itself, consider this: Without diminishing the millions of lives lost during World War II, Malick makes a case for rethinking the stakes of that conflict - echoes of which can hardly be ignored in contemporary politics - in more personal terms. But make no mistake: This is a war movie it’s just that the fight that’s raging here is an internal one, between a Christian and his conscience. He also served as co-producer on James Cameron’s multiple Oscar®-winning film TITANIC and as an executive producer on THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS and THE MATRIX RELOADED.There are no battlefields in Terrence Malick’s “ A Hidden Life” - only fields of wheat - no concentration-camp horrors, no dramatic midnight raids. Hill’s previous producing credits include the Netflix sci-fi drama series SENSE8, written 22 and directed by the Wachowskis, CLOUD ATLAS directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, the Wachowskis’ JUPITER ASCENDING and SPEED RACER as well as James McTeigue’s V FOR VENDETTA and NINJA ASSASSIN. He was also a producer on Malick’s film, VOYAGE OF TIME. It was his second Best Picture Oscar® nomination, following his collaboration with Malick on THE THIN RED LINE. Prior to producing A HIDDEN LIFE, he earned a Best Picture Academy Award® nomination for writer/director Terrence Malick’s drama THE TREE OF LIFE. Grant Hill (Producer) Grant Hill is currently producing the next Matrix film for Warner Bros. He is the writer and director of BADLANDS, DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE THIN RED LINE, THE NEW WORLD, THE TREE OF LIFE, TO THE WONDER, KNIGHT OF CUPS, SONG TO SONG and VOYAGE OF TIME. He worked for Newsweek, Life and The New Yorker, and taught philosophy at MIT before attending the American Film Institute. ![]() ![]() Terrence Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois, and grew up in Texas and Oklahoma.
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