This is an audio-visual feast, a prose poem that chants.
"The Hidden Life" is like a gentle lyrical music, whispering to us in our ears, slowly unfolding from the dreamlike and beautiful rural life of the hero and heroine. The whole film is rich in the essence of poetry, and people fight the tyrannical war with the order of the soul.
Terrence Malick’s "The Hidden Life" filmed in 2019 tells us that during World War II, the Austrian Franz Jagerstede was unwilling to give his life for Nazi Germany because he did not succumb to the war machine. Constantly struggling, chose to follow the direction of his heart, never give up his freedom of belief, and was executed by the enemy as a result. This is a biopic based on real historical events.
The film showed the director's narrative characteristics as soon as it came up. The wide-format picture has a magnificent perspective. The mid-to-near shots are all low-camera shots. The huge deformations of the edges of the faces and the distortions of the buildings are not processed. Let the audience observe this crazy distorted world from the perspective of a bug's eye. World War II plunged Europe into the quagmire of war. European people fell into endless suffering. The protagonist’s idyllic life was devastated. The director Malik used his philosophical thinking on time and space to rebuild an aesthetic scene for us.
It's like a silent film, and it's definitely not a silent film. He has music, he has poetic pictures and dialogue, but it is more of a blank space. Let the audience devote themselves to the wonderful hidden world created by the director. The first half is mainly through the whispering thought monologues of the heroes and heroines to pave the foundation of simple beliefs cultivated in the rural scenery, avoiding the depiction of mainstream Nazi battlefields, and sporadic black-and-white film materials show the German army's triumphant advance.
After Franz refused to take an oath and was arrested and imprisoned, the film enters the second half of the film, switching back and forth between the Nazi prison and the sad home through the narration of the correspondence between the host and the host. The music has different ups and downs along with the picture, and the movement of life slowly unfolds and ends slowly. The green grass is like shade, the towering mountains, the clear wind, the beautiful waves of wheat, the whispers of the wife, and the laughter of the daughters like silver bells can be heard in the distance. All this is so beautiful. All this was ruthlessly taken away. The state apparatus was mastered by a group of martial, solitary, tyrannical, and arrogant people. The fate of little people is like ants. They ignore and ruthlessly. People have become his cannon fodder, and his beautiful home is about to be destroyed by them.
The main character’s hometown, Radegund, is located in the high mountains of the Austrian Alps. Beautiful scenery and towering peaks. Changing clouds and rain often drift by. The towering church stands above the village, implying that people's faith is above all else. With the poetic and dreamlike scenery, people live happily and contentedly. The people in the village are simple and kind, and bicycle postmen ride and shuttle on the mountain to deliver mail. The protagonist sows, cultivates, and harvests diligently. Three daughters with angelic faces and smart, beautiful and diligent wives, because the mistress’s understanding of freedom also presupposes that the war that the leader preached by the leader is a wrong behavior, and he lives and grows up in the world. Freedom and purity are opposites.
Out of suspicion of the leader’s wrongdoing, he communicated with the people in the village. No one had the courage to question the actions of the Nazis. Everyone refuted his opinions and asked him to disguise himself, or obey Hitler’s will, or even Fanatic Nazi fans despise him and humiliate him and his family even more. However, as the day passed, his mind became more determined. On the first day of being re-enlisted, he was arrested because of his firm belief. He was sent to a political prisoner's cell and then transferred to a Berlin prison. The prison suffered inhuman humiliation, whipping and mental oppression. He has not regretted the decision he made.
Before the death sentence was sentenced, the male protagonist and the judge each had two wonderful dialogues:
"No one outside the high wall knows about you, you won't change anyone"
"I have a feeling in my heart that I can't do what I think is wrong"
"Do you think you have the right to do this?"
"Am I right not to do this?"
After sending off the male lead, the inquisitor sat in the chair where Franz had just sat in deep thought. At this time, the camera gave the inquisitor's hands on his knees a big specificity, which was impressive and meaningful.
It can be said that when a person has faith, his heart is extremely strong, nothing can change him, no one can conquer him, even if it is death, even if it is an eternal farewell to relatives. None of this can be changed. A person's desire for freedom of belief, judgment and understanding of freedom, makes the male protagonist end his personal beliefs like a martyrdom, and the audience is also released from the repressive and thrilling prison life.
All in all, this is a film of poetry and prose. You can only immerse yourself in the film step by step if you let go of your mind and calm down completely. Feel the whispered dialogue in the movie, such as the breath of song and the wonderful alpine scenery; experience the wonderful feeling of the breeze, the elegance of the wind blowing wheat, the purgatory of the Nazis. This is not an ordinary movie. He is not lively, no noise, no gunshots, and even no blood. Amidst the traces of melancholy, sweetness and sentiment revealed from the beautiful scenery of the thick Austrian mountains, he stepped into the director’s construction of the macro. The relationship between the world and people returns to the self-salvation of mankind.
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