Movie Review - A Hidden Life

If you're like me, you have a very specific mental picture of what a "war movie" is. Lots of loud, intense scenes with gunfire, bombs, and bloodied men running for cover. Sights of the atrocities that occur on the front lines. Lost friends. Trauma that you can't recover from.

But while A Hidden Life could be classified as a war movie, it paints a strikingly different picture, but a picture that is just as true. 

A Hidden Life is a 2019 film directed by Terrence Malick. Rated PG-13 for "violent images and thematic material", it takes a look at an Austrian farmer by the name of Franz, and his family, in the early stages of World War 2. I won't say too much, for fear of spoilers, but I'll say that this is one of the most thought-provoking movies that I've ever seen. 

I said earlier that A Hidden Life could be classified as a war movie, but it could just as easily be classified as a peace movie. Because that's what we see throughout the film. It opens on an Austrian farm, a place of as perfect peace as you can get on this earth. The family is happy. Their love for one another is as clear as the sun on an April day. They live, and they laugh, and they give thanks to God for all they have. 

But serving God requires sacrifice. And when Hitler begins to take control, the laughter begins to fade. 

That's another aspect of the movie that sets it apart. I can't claim to be a connoisseur
of war dramas, but the ones that I have seen often present a picture of darkness. Understandably so; the ugliness of battle comes from sin, the darkest thing of all. But they present the darkness without presenting the reasons behind it. They have correctly identified the problem with the world, but not the solution. 

A Hidden Life does both. While it doesn't hesitate to show the brutality that surrounded the Nazi-occupied territory, it highlights faith and dependence on God through that brutality. It's a realistic depiction of holding to your Christian convictions even in the face of unthinkable cruelty—disturbing, to our relatively protected selves, but beautiful. 

Terrence Malick, a Christian, weaves together the elements of cinema, story, and truth in a powerful way. If you're looking for a deep, true, piece of art to watch this weekend, I'd certainly recommend giving A Hidden Life a try.

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