A HIDDEN LIFE

 You know that when Terrence Malick tackles the true-life story of an Austrian conscientious objector during World War Two it won't be like anyone else's true-life story and it certainly won't be a 'biopic'. In recent years Malick has been severely criticised for what many saw as pretentious doodlings in the world of music and show-business, as if what creativity he might have had had dried up and he was just making expensive, personal home-movies. Actually, I'm a big fan of both "Knight of Cups" and "Song to Song" even if I did find "To the Wonder" unendurable. Now Malick has made an anti-war film in a way that only Malick can; five minutes into "A Hidden Life" you know you are watching a Terrence Malick film. Diehard fans will, of course, love it while his detractors will be groaning in their seats and crying, 'Oh no, not another one'. Ten minutes in, however, and you can see that while all the Malick tropes are here, this could be a movie that harkens back to "Days of Heaven", if a 'war' movie, not quite as guttural as "The Thin Red Line" and again, in typical Malick fashion, voice-over or narration seems to dominate much more than conversational dialogue.

Visually it's extraordinary, (the DoP is Jorg Widmer), but then you knew it would be and yes, it is very slow, (as you knew it would be), and it is three hours long but it's also beautifully written by the director and beautifully acted. August Diehl is superb as Franz Jagerstatter, the conscientious objector while Valerie Pachner is equally good as his wife and there are excellent supporting performances from Karl Markovics, Johan Leyson, Johannes Krisch and Franz Rogowski. This is certainly no self-reflective doodle from some inward looking artist with nothing left to say but confirmation of Malick's stature both as a film-maker and as a thinker; it is also incredibly moving in a way Malick's previous films never were. If there's a downside, even for Malick aficionados, it's that it does require a great deal of patience and it could certainly do with a trim here and there but Malick is not the kind of man to make concessions. This will be loved and loathed in equal measure but if you are prepared to give yourself over to it, the rewards are considerable.