A Hidden Life

Lyrical film explores an Austrian farmer’s valiant stand against the Nazis. by Geoff Moulton

War comes not only with a physical toll; there is also a spiritual cost. For those who take arms against oppressive regimes such as Nazi Germany, it is difficult enough. But what would it have been like to have been recruited by the Nazis? Would any person’s faith have stood up under such pressure?

A Difficult Decision A Hidden Life chronicles the reallife story of conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter(August Diehl), an Austrian peasant farmer in 1939 who lives with his wife in the small village of St. Radegund, then part of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. When the Second World War breaks out, Franz is conscripted into the German army, called to basic training and forced to spend months away from his family. As a soldier, he has difficulty reconciling his Christian faith with blind allegiance to the Nazis. Fortunately, France surrenders in 1940 before Franz is deployed, and it seems as though the war might end.

Franz is sent home, and director Terrence Malick invites us to dwell

Calm Before the Storm Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl) and his wife, Fani (Valerie Pachner), till their fields in the days before he is called back into the German military

on scenes of domestic bliss, the tender family relationship between Franz and his wife, Fani (Valerie Pachner), and his three daughters. The camera lingers on the beauty of nature as seasons come and go and Franz tends the fields amid the majesty of the Austrian mountains. Malick draws a stark contrast between the idyllic natural world and the evils that men are capable of in wartime. Warplanes fly overhead and soldiers march in, shattering the peace in their valley.

As the war drags on, Franz is called into service a second time, and this time he resists. In frustration, his mother and sister-in-law, Resie (Maria Simon), turn against him. Why would he put his personal belief above the safety of his family? Why not just give in? Likewise, many of the townspeople react violently to Franz’s decision, ostracizing Franz and his family. Even the Bishop of Salzburg tells him to capitulate. Will his resolve hold?

Following the Right Path When Franz refuses to swear an oath to Hitler and the Third Reich, he is imprisoned and must wait months for a trial. He is sustained by the faithful letters from his wife, who eventually goes to visit him in Berlin. But time runs out, and Franz faces the ultimate test: the death sentence as punishment for his resistance.

Malick is known for his long, meditative movies that tackle the meaning of existence and the search for God in a hostile universe. Franz reminds one of Job, that man in the Bible who had tremendous wealth and then lost it all when Satan took away his family, livelihood and health. His wife and friends urged him to “curse God and die” (see Job 2:9), yet Job remained faithful.

We may not be facing the same horrible decision as Franz or Job, but we, too, can have our faith challenged. A Hidden Life examines what it means to have integrity in the face of enormous opposition. Franz’s journey teaches us that faith is not an abstract ideal, but a deliberate decision every day to follow the right path.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous German pastor who was also executed by the Nazis, put it best: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

A Hidden Life is available on most on-demand services.