Along with Whit Stillman and Terence Davies, Terrence Malick’s reputation has been coddled by an excessive absence-makes- the-heart-grow-fonder factor. Once these guys stop taking five to ten year breaks between films, they’re found out, commercially & critically the bloom very much off the rose. Out a mere two years since his last bomb release, this quasi-religious tale of WWII martyrdom* by an Austrian farmer/father/military reservist turned conscientious objector/Hitler loyalty pledge refusenik, was less disdained than ignored. Did no one on his staff have the balls to mention this fact-based story is THE SOUND OF MUSIC/’65 meets A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS/’66? Those two also fact-based stories . . . well, sort of. The parallels to MUSIC truly bizarre: military dad (here a reservist); gaggle of kids; Pantheistic Alpine views used as personal motif; perfect earth-figure mom; same running time (174"/176" - here wildly self-indulgent); same country & time period; same narrative line (well, till the end); all served up with catchy music (Richard Rodgers/J.S. Bach); even the same damn studio 20th/Fox! Shot for some reason entirely with various levels of distorting WideScreen lenses, some looking like those early ‘Scope lenses that had odd visual artifacts cinematographers tried to hide, here encouraged with ‘fisheye’ effects. Less explainable, Malick’s breakdown in narrative control. I thought Dad had died two times over with an hour’s running time still to go.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Sure enough, SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF CHRIST the next Malick project. Currently in post-production, he’s probably already finished but knows its reception will improve if he holds off till at least five years pass between the new film and this award-winning disappearing act.
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