'A Hidden Life'

In the last couple of decades, the films of director Terrence Malick have become a known quantity: An immersive, meditative experience, with the camera either capturing vast landscapes in long view or darting among people who may not acknowledge the camera or speak mostly in voice-overs.

Such experiences can be transporting, in the father-and-son tension of “The Tree of Life,” or pretentious navel-gazing, as in “Knight of Cups” and “Song to Song.” In his latest, “A Hidden Life,” a tale of a prisoner of conscience under Hitler’s rule, the slow, thoughtful tone brings out the suffering of both the main character and his devoted wife.

Based on true events, Malick’s story focuses on Franz Jägerstatter (August Diehl), a farmer in a remote, mountainous part of Austria. Franz is a man who wants nothing more than to till his fields, raise his livestock, tend to his family, and make love to his wife, Fani (Valerie Pachner). But the war comes calling, and after one stint in training, Franz awaits the day when his draft number is called up again.

When he gets the order, he reports for duty, but at the base he refused to follow one specific order: He won’t, as all Austrian soldiers are required to do, swear an oath supporting Adolf Hitler. For that, he is put in prison, where he is treated brutally by guards, and faces a trial where the punishment is likely to be his execution.

While Franz sits in prison, Fani struggles to keep the farm going, and to raise the couple’s children. Fani gets some help from her sister, Resie (Maria Simon), but she is shunned by the women of the nearby farms and village — because they think Franz a traitor.

Taking nearly three hours to tell this story, Malick and cinematographer Jörg Widmer luxuriously train our view on the rugged Austrian countryside, where it always seems ready to storm, a metaphor for the terrors of war waiting over the mountains. Malick also takes time to let us experience the Jägerstatters’ bucolic life, giving us a richer appreciation of what Franz stands to lose.

Franz’ journey brings him in contact with various officials, bewildered by his principled stand. These include his local Catholic bishop (played by the Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, who died in 2017), a prison captain (the Belgian star Matthias Schoenaerts) and a sympathetic judge (the German actor Bruno Ganz, who died in February).

The bright line that connects everything in “A Hidden Life” is the connection between Franz and Fani, how their love and their shared belief in the righteousness of his stand support them in the worst of times. In his sometimes dreamlike technique, Malick makes that love as real as any you’ll see on screen, and gives the movie a power few can attain.

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‘A Hidden Life’

★★★1/2

Opened December 13 in select cities; opens Friday, December 20, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City). Rated PG-13 for thematic material including violent images. Running time: 174 minutes; in English and unsubtitled German.