ON THE TRAGIC FEELING IN THE WAR MOVIE AND DRAMA A HIDDEN LIFE: THE STRUGGLE WITH ONE’S OLD SELF AND WITH THE WORLD, DÉJÀ VU IN THE CONTENT OF THE HUMAN EXISTENCE
ON THE TRAGIC FEELING IN THE WAR MOVIE AND DRAMA A HIDDEN LIFE: THE STRUGGLE WITH ONE’S OLD SELF AND WITH THE WORLD, DÉJÀ VU IN THE CONTENT OF THE HUMAN EXISTENCE

Summary/Abstract: The film A Hidden Life, dating from the year 2019, directed by Terrence Malick, has the following subject: Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer, married to Franziska, with whom he has three children, refuses to fight under the Nazi command, during the Second World War. Franz’s role becomes significant and harrowing, as he has no choice, but following and watching, like a spectator, his own end. Franz’s decision functions the same as a faustic pact, which he dignifiedly refuses to sign. The plot unleashes in the moment when the German army calls Franz to start his preparation for war. Franz represents the prototype of the hard-working peasant, close to the land and devoted to his work, a person who belongs to a coagulated society, to whom he dedicates himself, with complete confidence. The motif of the land becomes a leitmotif in the literary work, as well as in the movie, reiterated and described several times. The time and the space of the movie are settled even from the beginning, as it follows: the German village Ragegund, Austria, the year 1939. The action of the movie is linear, without obeying a presettled scenario, but only following the plot of the novel, entitled Franz Jägerstätter: Letters and Writings from Prison, written by the author Erna Putz. The central character’s positive thoughts determine the movie fans to meditate over the existence, that is the present situation and what could generate his drama, by disturbing the other characters, even the opponent ones. The force of the narration, full of dramatism, generates characters described almost identically with those in the novel.

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