The first trailer for Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life” reveals a film that looks as shimmering, spiritual and liberated in its camera movements as any of his recent achievements.
But this one, which made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, received some of the reclusive director’s best reviews since the Best Picture nominated “The Tree of Life.”
Malick tells the true story of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian peasant farmer and spiritual man who became a conscientious objector and refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II as Hitler rose to power. The film grapples with his dilemma between serving God or his country and frames his story with the backdrop of his love story with his wife. It’s set in Austria, but the nearly three hour-film is primarily spoken in the English.
August Diehl and Valerie Pachner star in the drama that Fox Searchlight is releasing on Dec. 13 in the U.S. following it playing at TIFF next month. The film competed for the Palme d’Or and Malick won the François Chalais Award from the festival.
Matthias Schoenaerts, Maria Simon, Tobias Moretti, Karin Neuhauser, Ulrich Mathes and the late Bruno Ganz also star in “A Hidden Life.”
Watch the first trailer above.