Martin Eden

Set in a provocatively unspecified moment in Italy’s history yet adapted from a 1909 autobiographical novel by American author Jack London, “Martin Eden” is a passionate and enthralling narrative fresco in the tradition of the great Italian classics. Martin (played by the marvelously committed Luca Marinelli) is a self-taught proletarian with artistic aspirations who hopes that his dreams of becoming a writer will help him rise above his social class and marry a wealthy young university student (Jessica Cressy). The twinned dissatisfactions of working-class toil and bourgeois success lead to political reawakening and destructive anxiety in this enveloping, superbly mounted bildungsroman.

Director: Pietro Marcello

A Hidden Life

Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” the true story of a World War II conscientious objector, is one of his finest films. August Diehl stars as Franz Jagerstatter, a modest, real-life hero of a type rarely celebrated on film. He wasn’t a politician, a revolutionary firebrand, or even a particularly extroverted or even verbose man. He just had a set of beliefs and stuck with them to the bitter end. Living a life that oddly echoed Herman Mellville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” this was a soft-spoken Catholic who refused to serve in the German army, swear a loyalty oath to Hitler, or respond in kind when people said “Heil Hitler” to him on the road. As a result, he suffered an escalating series of consequences that were meant to break him but hardened his resolve.

Director: Terrence Malick

Escape F rom Pretoria

Based on the real-life prison break of two political captives, “Escape From Pretoria” is a race-against-time thriller set in the tumultuous apartheid days of South Africa. The story of Tim Jenkin’s escape from a 12-year sentence for spreading anti-apartheid propaganda sheds a light on the racist atrocities of the government in general and of the prison systems in particular.

Director: Francis Annan