Terrence Malick comes out of hiding with a trailer for A Hidden Life

Love him or hate him, you’d have a hard time denying the attention Terrence Malick garners from critics and fellow filmmakers. Since Badlands in 1973, Malick has pushed his films through increasingly-abstract stages of visual poetry, perhaps alienating some with the likes of To the Wonder and Knight of Cups. The new trailer for A Hidden Life might be indicative of a return to more conventional, narrative roots for the elusive Texan.

A Hidden Life shines its spotlight on the true story of Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl), whose objections to the reign of terror sweeping his home country of Germany leading to and during the Second World War would canonize him as a voice of dissent among the German people opposed to Hitler’s brutal madness.

From the trailer, Malick’s film looks gorgeous, as is to be expected. And featuring music by James Newton Howard, the gravitas of Third Reich Germany is felt as both dire and incredibly emotional.

The film played at the Cannes Film Festival this past May, and is set for a US theatrical release December 13, 2019 from Fox Searchlight.