Review: A Hidden Life
Though I'm an atheist, I've long been fascinated with stories of faith and spirituality. When it comes to cinema, this is especially true. It's difficult to not be drawn to Bergman's reveries about a cruel God, Dreyer's religious ardor or Bresson's catholic severity. They move and engage, they challenge and inspire, even when the viewer doesn't believe in the cosmic orders they take for granted. Terrence Malick is a good name to add to that list. After all, the Philosophy professor turned filmmaker has dedicated much of his career to the transmutation of the soul into film. He creates spiritual odysseys out of light and color, intuitive editing and ephemerous scripts, star-studded casts and beautiful cinematography.
His style is so specific it's become prone to parody and his self-important themes can feel alienating. A Hidden Life exemplifies all of this to the extreme and, in some ways, it seems to announce itself as the ultimate Terrence Malick project…