Film Review: A Hidden Life (2019)

Terrence Malick’s latest film, A Hidden Life, confirms his status as among the most original directors of our time. The story—which centers around an Austrian man in the early 1940s refusing to swear loyalty to the Reich because of his Christian convictions—is less interesting than Malick’s signature cinematographic approach. Most directors tend to hold shots stationary during conversational scenes and introduce movement during action sequences, thereby putting us on a level with the characters and identifying with their state of mind. With Malick, on the other hand, it’s as if he’s putting us in the perspective of a disembodied observer that floats, bobs, and hovers around and through the characters and the breathtaking vistas of the Austrian Alps. The observer is neither situated as a character nor as an omniscient watcher, but rather as a curious spirit who’s not quite sure what is going on, so the spirit probes, turns, and retreats inquisitively and whimsically, oblivious to the tragedy unfolding around it. The effect is captivating rather than disorienting or vertigo-inducing. The constant sweeps and pulls of the camera inevitably pulls the viewer into the world that powerfully integrates character, viewer, and scenery. It can become hypnotic. Malick’s movies are not for everyone—they unfold slowly, and with sudden temporal jump cuts within scenes that leave our disembodied observer constrained by sequence, but not time—and yet this is all part of the experience. The film rewards the patient, curious viewer with an experience of how radical film techniques can be used to tell a highly traditional story about the power of old-fashioned decency and family bonds to overcome in even the most challenging times.