BONHOEFFER: PASTOR. SPY. ASSASSIN. REVIEW

A fairly traditional biopic that tells an inspirational story of a pastor speaking out against Hitler

There have been so many stories told about the World War II and the Holocaust, it may get a little tiring to some who may feel there aren’t any more stories to be told, which obviously isn’t true. It’s a well-covered era of history for sure, and veteran filmmaker Todd Komarnicki – who wrote the screenplay for Clint Eastwood’s Sully – decided to tackle the well-told story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, played by Jonas Dassler, a German pastor so shocked by the usurping of the church by Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich that he chooses to say and do something about it.

We meet Dietrich as a young child playing hide and seek with his older brother, Walter, who is later killed amidst WWI. Later, Dietrich takes a trip to Harlem in the ‘30s, developing a love for jazz and attending a number of church services that inspire him to use some of what he learned back in his own teachings back in Germany. On his return, Hitler’s rise to power has begun, and soon, his regime is using the church to spread his message of hate, something that Dietrich won’t abide. Eventually, he is roped into a failed attempt to assassinate the German leader and becomes imprisoned as a traitor along with others.

For the most part, this is a fairly straight-ahead biopic that doesn’t really try to break the mold or reinvent any wheels. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing, since many watching this may have never even heard of Bonhoeffer, even there has at least been one doc and at least one television movie made about him, neither of which I had seen. Bonhoeffer tries to cover bases in terms of how Hitler used the church to try to convince the German people that the Fuhrer should be held in higher regard than Christ himself. 

Much of the film relies on Dassler’s ability to carry it, and he mostly does fine, especially during an impassioned church sermon against the Fuhrer that makes him a target. It’s a rare time when Dassler shows the charisma necessary to carry the drama a film like this needs. That aside, Komarnicki has put together a decent cast of mostly German actors, all speaking English, including Flula Borg in a surprising dramatic role as Dietrich’s rebellious brother-in-law Hans. Other scenes between Dietrich and the rest of his family are pretty forgettable, with a few moments that get quite corny. 

There’s a noticeable lack of female characters in the story, which tends to be part and parcel when it comes to “war movies.” Having interviewed Komarnicki, I do know that much of his research involved reading Bonhoeffer’s many books written before and during his imprisonment, and the lack of women might just be due to the nature of the story being told. Otherwise, the film’s trailer feels somewhat deceptive, because it makes the film feel more like an action-packed political thriller than it actually is. The title doesn’t help matters, since it implies that Dietrich is killing every Nazi he meets or doing as much spying as he is pastoring, but that isn’t the case at all. 

Unlike other faith-based dramas, the movie never tries to ram its faith and religion down the viewer’s throat, instead focusing on the positive aspects of Christianity – being kind to others and speaking out to those who don’t have a voice. As much as this movie is trying to be Schindler’s List, it mostly feels like it glosses over the horrors of Holocaust seen in so many other movies, maybe because that’s already ingrained into the heads of anyone watching this. On the other hand, the story ends up being quite prescient when you think what might be in store for the next four years with a megalomaniac being given so much power.

Komarnicki’s Bonhoeffer might not be of interest to everyone, even though it does tell quite an inspirational and even motivational story of how kindness towards others can go a long way, even under the most dire circumstances. Even though this movie was made well before the recent Presidential election, it’s hard not to think that Bonhoeffer’s actions are something we’ll all need to aspire to in the future.

Rating: 7/10

Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. opens nationwide on Friday, October 22.