How do you solve a problem like the Nazis? You can’t, so you resist.
That’s exactly what a rural Austrian farmer did during World War II, and now his true story is brought to the big screen on an epic canvas from poetic auteur Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, Days of Heaven).
During the height of the Third Reich, the Nazis drafted soldiers from every country they annexed, but Franz Jägerstätter — a devout Christian and pacifist — refused to the join them, and he paid the price. A Hidden Life is the story of Jägerstätter’s resistence and the subsequent cost that he and his family had to pay for it.
Filmed in Malick’s signature steadicam sweep and ethereal natural light, images from this first trailer reveal a visual continuum with The Tree of Life, plus there appear to be similar spiritual themes as well. As a Malick diehard (and even an apologist), hope springs again that he may have returned to his masterpiece form with a more focused narrative and character study.
Starring a mostly unknown cast of Austiran and Eastern European natives including August Diehl as Jägerstätter and Valerie Pachner as his wife Franziska, along with Matthias Schoenaerts (Red Sparrow, The Danish Girl) and the late Bruno Ganz (who famously played Hitler in Downfall), A Hidden Life opens in heart of awards season on December 13, 2019.
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August Diehl stars as real-life Nazi pacifist Franz Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl and Valerie Pachner star as Franz and Franziska Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
Rural Austria in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl and Mikael Nyqvist co-star in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl and Valerie Pachner star as Franz and Franziska Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl and Valerie Pachner star as Franz and Franziska Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl and Valerie Pachner star as Franz and Franziska Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl stars as real-life Nazi pacifist Franz Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
Valerie Pachner stars as Franz Jägerstätter’s wife Franziska in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl stars as real-life Nazi pacifist Franz Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl stars as real-life Nazi pacifist Franz Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
Valerie Pachner stars as Franz Jägerstätter’s wife Franziska in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
August Diehl stars as real-life Nazi pacifist Franz Jägerstätter, as he plants seeds in a field, in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
The field ready for harvest in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
Poster for Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
One Sheet for Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)
