A Hidden Life review: Terrence Malick finds a subject worth getting close to

• Dir: Terrence Malick. Cast: August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Michael Nyqvist, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jurgen Prochnow, Bruno Ganz. 12A cert, 174 mins.Terrence Malick must dream in fisheye lenses. It’s a filmmaking tool to which he’s become feverishly dedicated over the years, using it to distort reality and cram panoramic views into every frame. When Malick turns his camera on someone, the landscape surrounding them seems barren and infinite – like the character on screen and the viewer off of it are now the last two people on Earth. The connection created can feel disconcertingly intimate. Yet his recent films – Knight of Cups, To the Wonder and Song to Song – have made intimacy feel smothering. He’s trapped his audiences alone with pseudo-philosophers who are blind to their own excruciating privilege.