In 'A Hidden Life,' evil meets resistance

Terrence Malick's films come from a separate artistic universe, unconnected to past or current trends and even to conventional storytelling. All movies require an audience's willing participation, but Malick's films require an extra receptivity, a willingness to enter his world and look around and linger, sometimes for longer than we'd like.

In the end, he's worth it.

His latest, "A Hidden Life," tells the true story of a Roman Catholic Austrian farmer, Franz Jagerstratter, drafted into the German army during World War II, who refused to take an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler. It probably doesn't give away much to say that, because of his refusal, Jagerstratter's life changed for the worse and in a big way. Things got so bad that many years later he was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI, which is the step before sainthood.

So "A Hidden Life" depicts an act of religious conviction, but it's also, in itself, a devotional act, and a long one. The film's running time is 174 minutes, and it should have run 130, tops. Like the rosary or a Gregorian chant, it repeats itself, and minds will wander. But if you are prepared to just sit there — if you are wide awake and open to something new — you will occasionally witness the cinematic equivalent of spiritual ecstasy.

In Malick's world, the sky is of infinite wonder, and everything on the ground — from the farm animals, to the surrounding mountains, to the faces of the people — is an expression of divine creativity and mystery. Either Malick is in love with the world, with creation in all its forms, or he has spent the past 40 years doing an amazing impersonation.

Unlike in some of Malick's recent films, there are straight scenes, but most of "A Hidden Life" consists of people being filmed in the midst of activity, through a fishbowl lens, while we hear their voices on...