Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.

"Bonhoeffer" is a movie with an important message for the United States in 2024 -- sadly! The importance of standing up to the forces of evil, repression, hatred, discrimination and fascism cannot be said loudly or often enough.

As a "bio pic," the film takes historical liberties in retelling the life of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but does a credible job of portraying his deep faith, the fervor of his Christian convictions, and his dedication to the anti-Nazi struggle which ultimately cost him his life. Pastor Bonhoeffer was indeed a mid-century hero, and this film presents him as such.

The movie's biggest shortcoming was in failing to capture and represent the great drama and conflicts that underlaid Bonhoeffer's personal relationships and passionate religious/political commitments. Emotionally the story fell flat (for me) at key junctures, even to the extent of lacking much affect at points of high drama. As a result I didn't feel as connected or engaged to the title character as I wanted to be.

Nonetheless, I recommend this film; it deserves wide viewership.

Having high hopes, I was disappointed in Bonhoeffer. The narrative was choppy, the pace was slow, and the plot felt disjointed. Plus, it was hard to understand the dialogue with the accents, I felt like I should've waited for it to come out on streaming and watched it at home with the captions on. However, the acting was good and the production values were excellent. I love the fact that more and more Christian-themed movies are being made today and wholeheartedly support Angel Studios, I just wish that the movies had better scripts and were more entertaining, beyond being primarily focused on inspiration.

This captured the moral complexity of real life and the high cost of doing the right thing excellently. Despite criticisms that the writers took too much liberty with the timeline, the changes worked well for pacing the film and sticking to the main point. It felt complete, leaving the viewer heavy but satisfied.

The acting was strong and the writing was good, despite a couple (only a couple) cliché lines that still fit the moment. The actor portraying Bonhoeffer avoided the cliché perfect hero and showed the weakness of a man suffering for a hopeless cause.

8/10 - this is much better than the press.

I have never really understood the back and forth with timeline's, a glimpse into the past should correlate with what is taking place in the present. Otherwise just play it out in chronological order (just my opinion). We both left the theater (my wife and I) about so much, I was able to get more context in one paragraph on Wikipedia (IE: spent 1.5 years in prison and was tried for participating in the attempt on Hitler and more). The message is good and needed, especially today with so much division in our country. I love what Angel Studio's does, getting quality productions out in the main stream and I will continue to support them. This is just my honest review, not trying to be critical.

As a "docu-allegory," this is a solid 7; the historicity is woven in pretty well, and the fictionalized account of his death deeply Christian and compelling. But as a biography, basic mistakes (referring to the Eastern Front years before Barbarossa) and moving the ultimate scene of his death from Flossenburg with his co-conspirators to an anonymous isolated farmhouse with a random group of strangers are a bridge too far. Perhaps Germany restricts such things, but to me it was a missed opportunity to not use Flossenburg for those critical scenes, much as Sophie Scholl--the Last Days used the actual guillotine that killed Scholl in the movie. At times, Bonhoeffer simply does not come through as the erudite theologian that he was, but more as a proof-texting Protestant. That said, this is a "must see" if you're willing to accept broad deviations from history, and not anticipate a deep theological journey. Lingering to watch the cavalcade of quotes at the end is more than worth the time. Bonhoeffer reminds us that every generation faces its evil; that every individual must either act, or let evil have its way; and that Christ is the One to guide that choice. And that is truly a timeless message.