When the great poets of cinema history are listed, Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life) cannot be missing from the list. After the director only made three feature films in 30 years at the beginning of his career, he became somewhat more productive in the 2010s.
Unmistakably visually powerful, sensitive and voluptuous and anything but conventional is also his war film A Hidden Life from 2019, which Arte is broadcasting as a German free TV premiere on Monday evening. You definitely shouldn’t miss the film.
War film with exceptional images as a free TV premiere: That’s what A Hidden Life is about
Malick’s film is based on the true story of the Austrian Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl), who refused military service during the Second World War. That’s why he was sentenced to death. Decades later, the Catholic Church canonized him.
A Hidden Life traces the life of the pacifist and focuses primarily on the grueling imprisonment and the love affair between Franz and his wife Franziska (Valerie Pachner).
Watch a German trailer for A Hidden Life here:
A Hidden Life – Trailer (German) HD
Malick’s first war film The Thin Line was released in 1998, which explored the events of the Second World War primarily through the shattered mental lives of the soldiers. A hidden life chooses one again unusual perspective to make the incomprehensible tangible.
Together with his cameraman Jörg Widmer, Malick uses the usual opulent images that have never been seen before in the war film genre, which are even more elegiac and dreamy in his late work. In contrast to previous films such as To the Wonder or Song to Song, A Hidden Life follows a clearer plot structure in order to make the emotional story much more intense.
At latest The inevitable finale of A Hidden Life is so oppressive and shockingthat every viewer is released into the end credits with a heavy lump in their throat.
When will Terrence Malick’s unusual war film be on TV?
Arte is broadcasting the German free TV premiere of A Hidden Life May 20, 2024 at 8:15 p.m out of. The film runs without commercial breaks until 11 p.m. If you don’t have time for the TV broadcast, you can alternatively stream the Malick war film in the Arte media library.