An incredibly emotionally powerful movie that is truly heartbreaking.
Everything in this film is done to near perfection. This movie is so heartbreaking and tragic because it feels so utterly and completely real (something that should be the case but often isn't in movies based off true stories). This is not a simplified film by any means. This is especially true when it gets on the topic of faith. With all that they are going through our main characters are understandably struggling with their faith in God. What they has come easy to them all now raises complex questions that they have no answers to. They don't understand why God is allowing this to happen as they are having all their joy and dignity taken away. The man is being tortured and locked up for refusing to bow down to Hitler, while his wife at home is being ostracized and condemned for being married to a man who would do such a thing. Yet despite all this their faith is always there and perhaps becomes even stronger due to the fact it is all they have left. This is not a Christian film in a typical sense but it paints a very real and complex view of faith in the life of a Christian in times of trouble. The humanity and struggle of this inner situation is something everyone Christian or not can understand and this does an incredible job pulling us in even further emotionally. This is helped in a large part thanks to the fantastic performances from August Deihl and Valerie Pachner. Still the most heartbreaking part of the film is when the man is constantly asked if he thinks his act of rejecting Hitler will make a difference. The answer is obvious, it won't. Yet he still can't do what he knows is wrong. Terrance Malick's (also the film's director) incredible script raises these and many more thought provoking questions in some absolutely incredible dialogue. This is not only a very well written movie though, it is also an extremely cinematic one. Jörg Widmer's cinematography including incredible on location shooting is breathtakingly beautiful. James Newton Howard's musical score is hauntingly beautiful and is possible the best movie score of the year.
This can be a tough watch with its long length and painfully heartbreaking story, but that does not changed that this is an incredible film that will move you emotionally as well as making you think.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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