Can we just appreciate the fact that the person who played the infamous Nazi from Inglorious Basterds is now playing the infamous Anti-Nazi in A Hidden Life ? 🎱

The world would be a way better place if more Franzes live in it.

This would have been a terrific 90-minute or two-hour movie. But at three hours, it's far too bloated with footage that matters not at all, and the terrific visuals can't hide the fact that the extended run time results not in more insights, but in a meandering self-indulgence that practically screams out to be taken Very Seriously. Which is unfortunate since it's a serious subject that deserves serious consideration, but Malick finds a way to be his own worst enemy here. In the end, my hopes for another permanent addition to my film library were dashed.

A touching and delicate period drama set in rural Austria during WWII, full of breathtaking views and simple life portraits. It’s easy to get on the nose considering the subject matter, but I thought it reached a good balance between realism and drama. My only complaint is that it’s way too long-winded and repetitive for a three-hour movie. I understand that the pacing needs to be on the slower side to convey the right mood, but two hours would have been more than enough.

This past week, twice, I've been challenged to consider, from totally different sources, if I had lived in the culture of any historical hero would I have stood up for truth, or a victim, as that particular hero did. We live in a culture in which 90% would agree that what happened under Hitler was evil, so we are inclined to think we would have stood against it. Likewise, if we were part of the crowd who watched Jesus drag a cross through the city streets or if we stood at the foot of the cross, we would not have been among the mockers. This movie meticulously sets up the culture in which a man and his wife have to count the cost to stand against an evil force and lays out why many didn’t. Because the film is so long, many will not take the time to watch or consider an act that they feel, in this modern context, was an easy choice. I was concerned about the length of the film, but once I let myself relax into it, I found that it gave me time to ponder the range of arguments hurled against Franz and Fani who were just counting the cost and following their conscience. The performances of August Diehl (Franz) and Valerie Pachner (Fani) are brilliant and the cinematography of Austria is beautiful. I don’t know why they didn’t subtitle the German. There is enough English in the film to understand the important bits but so much German is left without subtitles and left to be interpreted emotionally. *I am going to break my own rule of only rating a film higher than 7 if I would watch it again, because, watched once, drenched in the emotion of this story, should allow you enough time to process all the questions these real life decisions had to answer. I give this film a 9 (important) out of 10. This movie is so much more than this, already too long, review.