A Redenção: A História Real de Bonhoeffer

Well-filmed and acted. However, the film spent an inordinate amount of time on Bonhoeffer's 1930 trip to New York and his supposed fascination with gospel music and jazz. In point of fact, his later prison letters reveal the lasting influence of the traditional Lutheran chorales and the hymns of Paul Gerhardt on his theology and piety. There was no mention whatsoever of his engagement to Maria von Wedemeyer (eighteen years his junior), with whom he exchanged dozens of letters during his imprisonment (1943-1945), and later published as 'Love Letters from Cell 92.' It was Maria's grandmother who funded the Confessing Church's seminary at Finkenwalde where Bonhoeffer championed a kind of 'new monasticism' for the seminarians-with traditional chorales and an ordered praying of the psalms. A plot line that wove Maria into the end of Bonhoeffer's life would have raised some compelling questions-such as, Why get engaged if the/your world is about to end? All that being said, it is good that a film of Bonhoeffer was produced, bringing his story of fighting for truth to a wider audience.

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.

I love Angel studios productions. But this was strenuous to keep up with, the bouncing back and forth in time was difficult to follow, and truthfully I fell asleep several times. I wanted to like it, but just couldn't recommend this one. I did not previously know this person, and this movie did not help me understand his importance to history. Scattered, broken, no continuity. It would leave your head spinning but so slow its all you can do not to nod off. Acting was good, characters believable, but the storyline was just too broken. Too hard to keep up with. Not enough reasons to understand and care about the main character.

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.

I agree with other reviews that found two major faults with this movie.

AUTHOR. The movie tells us (in the scripts) that B wrote many many books about faith. Yet the movie itself never shows him writing or publishing or discussing any books. The most we see is B writing his thoughts in a journal.

ASSASSIN. Yes historically there were many failed plots to assassinate Hitler, and in fact the movie shows us such a plot. But there are no facts in the movie to show that B was ever arrested or charged with this. It's a very serious gap in the story.

BOTTOM LINE. I'm sorry, but I think B deserves a better script and a livelier story. The movie Valkarie with Tom Cruise (a non religious story) that depicts a failed assassination attempt on Hitler is a good example.

The Bonhoeffer movie could have used a lot more action to break up what were tedious conversations about faith in the face of evil.