Austin Film Festival 2019: Day 4
The festival schedule was a little light today, so I was only able to make it to two movies, which was nice because one of them was 173 minutes. Unlike most of the films I’ve reviewed so far, both of these movies already have distribution and are scheduled to release in theaters later this year. That gives you the exciting opportunity to see these films and then tell me how full of shit I am.
Atlantics
Atlantics begins as a drama about the plight of the working class in Senegal, and it evolves into a ghost story about the people society leaves behind. A group of construction workers has gone without pay for four months. They are at the end of their collective ropes and are stuck with two dire options: stay in Senegal and risk death from starvation or debt collectors or try their luck sailing 2,100 miles up the Atlantic coast to seek refuge in Spain. They elect the latter of the two.
Rather than following the fleeing workers, director Mati Diop looks at the impact on the friends and family left behind. While they face a lesser risk of imminent death, their lives are full of obstacles. They’re forced into arranged marriages, pressured into conservative religious lifestyles, and profiled by police. Diop delves into the paranormal to represent the hole left in these people’s lives by the workers who fled seeking a better future.
Not everything in Atlantics works. There are some plot holes, and the paranormal aspect of the story doesn’t always make sense. However, Diop does an excellent job of pulling the audience into the story by writing relatable characters and creating a melancholy, eery tone throughout. It’s one of the most unique films I’ve seen this year, and I recommend checking it out. Atlantics releases in theaters November 15th, and it’s available on Netflix November 29th.
A Hidden Life
Terrence Malick’s latest film is a poetic contemplation of faith and the value of holding one’s moral ground. It stars August Diehl as Franz Jägerstätter, a simple Austrian farmer in the early 1940s. When the German army comes to his small mountain village seeking able-bodied men to enlist, he refuses to join due to his moral issues with the war.
This decision comes with extreme ramifications. Franz is imprisoned by the Nazis, his wife is ostracized by their village, and his daughters are left without a father. When his lawyer negotiates a deal for him to avoid combat duty in exchange for swearing allegiance to Hitler, Franz must decide whether his morality is worth the cost of his life.
The film spends the entirety of its nearly three-hour runtime dwelling on this question, but it’s never boring. Jörg Widmer’s beautiful cinematography of the Austrian mountains and James Newton Howard’s hypnotic score combine to place the audience under a spell from the first minute through the end credits. Watch the trailer above, and you’ll get an idea of what I’m talking about.
It’s called A Hidden Life because Franz’s rebellion goes largely unnoticed. No one knows about it outside of his village and a German military prison. Abandoned by his friends, his church, and his country, he is truly alone. He is asked throughout the film why he refuses to swear allegiance when his moral stance has clear negative results and no positive ones. He could be executed. His wife could be widowed. His children could be orphaned. And the war still rages on. His morality will achieve nothing.
Martin Scorsese analyzes this idea in his underrated 2016 masterpiece Silence, and he comes to a more practical conclusion than Malick’s idealistic viewpoint here. I tend to agree with Scorsese’s perspective, but I really enjoyed this movie. It’s one of the most beautiful films of the year. A Hidden Life is in theaters December 13th.
Michael Dixon is covering the Austin Film Festival because he has a crippling movie addiction, and he’d like to share it with you. See the rest of his festival coverage at the links below.
Editor’s note: Movie addiction is highly contagious. Symptoms include watching four movies in a day, writing about those movies at night, and using those activities as an excuse to avoid human interaction. If you or a loved one is experiencing any of these symptoms, please consult a therapist immediately.
2019 Austin Film Festival Preview
Austin Film Festival 2019: Day 1
Austin Film Festival 2019: Day 2
Austin Film Festival 2019: Day 3
Austin Film Festival 2019: Day 6
Austin Film Festival 2019: Day 7
