The Everyman at the Movies- Review of Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.

Angel Studio's biopic on Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a moving story about the famous German pastor who spoke out against the evils of the Nazi regime. While not a perfect film, it is still worth seeing.

Originally produced and filmed by three separate companies as simply Bonhoeffer, the film was acquired and distributed by Angel Studios who retitled it Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. The film is a historic biopic of the famed German Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his early childhood, to his time studying abroad in America before returning to Germany just as Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party have risen to power.

It goes through the rising tensions in Germany as the Nazi party takes over every aspect of German life, including the church by controlling what is said in the pulpit and even printing an “Aryan Bible.” Eventually a resistance grows against the Nazis and Bonhoeffer chooses to take part in it by openly criticizing the Nazi party, and ultimately joining a plot to assassinate Hitler. His part in it is discovered and he is imprisoned and eventually hanged, a mere two weeks before the end of the war.

Although it garnered some positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, the film has actually been castigated by some critics for a variety of reasons. Some descendants of Bonhoeffer are not happy with the historical inaccuracies in the film, such as a promotional photo (which has since been scrubbed) depicting Bonhoeffer holding a pistol with a tagline which states, “How far would you go to stand up for what’s right?” According to those relatives, the photo is at complete odds to the real life Bonhoeffer and they blame this misrepresentation on the fact that the film was in part based on the 2011 book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by “far-right radio host” Eric Metaxas. The presidents of the International Bonhoeffer Society and the publishers of his works have decried the film for pushing the kind of “Christian Nationalism” that Bonhoeffer stood against. They go so far as to even drag the recent election of Donald Trump and Project 2025 (because apparently Bonhoeffer is quoted in it) into their criticisms of the film.

However, aside from dragging their overused and pre-packaged BlueAnon prejudices into their reviews because of their animus towards Angel Studios (who only distributed the film), is there anything of substance to be said about the movie? Certainly there is. Here are two takes on the film by the Everyman’s Evan McClanahan (himself a Lutheran pastor) and Senior Editor J. Antonio Juarez.

Worth Seeing…But… by Evan McClanahan

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a pretty obvious candidate for a biopic. Given the Eric Metaxas treatment several years back and Angel Studios’ box office success, the topic and studio partnership seems obvious. But is it a good movie?

As someone who has studied Bonhoeffer more than your average pastor and even ran a ministry called Bonhoeffer House for a few years, I know a thing or two about him. That is not false modesty. I really do know more about him than the average person; although there are scholars who know much more. For example, I hosted an interesting debate between scholars on whether Bonhoeffer was an Orthodox Christian several years ago. I also interviewed the author of Bonhoeffer’s Seminary Vision (available here). Thus, I think I can fairly assess a film that seeks to highlight his life's highlights, character, and morally dubious role in an assassination attempt.

Aesthetically, the film itself is well-made. We are past the era of cheap-looking, Christian films. So that box is checked. The acting was fine. The lead actor is clearly wearing a hair piece that I found distracting and looked unnatural. There was something about him that just rubbed me the wrong way. (I actually wished they had just made the film in German. I'm old, so I read subtitles anyway.) But generally, everyone seemed exceptionally grim or very happy. There was a modesty or subtlety missing in many scenes, since with these biopics that cover decades, there is simply not enough time for anything but highlights.

To summarize, if you know nothing about Bonhoeffer and want a bird's eye view of his life, this film is perfect for you. It walks you through the major pivot points including the formation of the Confessing Church, his limited role in an assassination plot, time in prison, and exposure to Gospel music in New York City…not necessarily in that order.

Bonhoeffer highlights his courage in realizing who the Nazis were and standing up to them. And he did speak for the Jews (and apparently help some escape at personal expense) at a time when that was extremely dangerous. I was glad that Bonhoeffer’s time at Finkenwalde was given some screen time. I would argue that 1935-1937 were Bonhoeffer’s most important years and his most famous writing (Discipleship and Life Together) emerged from that experience.

But there were two highlighted themes I found strange. One was his concept of "religionless Christianity," a phrase that comes from his Letters and Papers from Prison near the end of his life. Without the explanation it deserves, the portrayal of this idea makes it look like Bonhoeffer really wanted no more church at all, given its failure, that Christianity was just a pious journey of following Jesus, no structure needed.

I don't think that is what Bonhoeffer was saying. Rather, he was saying that if this is what institutional religion gets us, we have to rethink the whole thing. And that is what he was setting out to do at Finkenwalde with the next generation of pastors before the war killed almost all of them. He was rethinking seminary education and the church at-large and these contributions were far more important than whatever small role he played in an assassination attempt.

But - and not to be a downer about this - the fact is that the German Church rejected every recommendation Bonhoeffer would have made. The German Church today is an abject failure. It is Americans who love Bonhoeffer and still buy his books. Meanwhile, they have not implemented his seminary vision. So I would gladly trade the biographies for a legacy and I am quite confident Bonhoeffer would say the same if he could. Forget the lionizing; get on with the reform!

The second theme that emerged with the final screen before the credits was a "Never Forget" message about the Holocaust. There was a reminder that 2023 was the worst year since 1972 in terms of anti-semitic activity. Now, I am happy for the awareness brought to the issue of anti-semitism, but it struck me as out of place. Yes, the Confessing Church objected to the Aryan Paragraph in 1934, but the Holocaust's scope was almost certainly unknown by Bonhoeffer while he was in a place to resist it. Indeed, he was in jail from 1943-1945 when a huge number of the atrocities took place.

A friend of mine also wondered if portraying Bonhoeffer as a willing assassin could provide moral cover for an assassination of Trump. Trump, after all, is supposedly a “fascist." Was this film in some way predictive programming? I'll admit, I think that is far-fetched because I trust that Angel Studios is broadly conservative.

Still, it remains an open question of what we do with Bonhoeffer's teaching and legacy. Do we seek to take the “religion" out of Christianity? Do we overhaul the seminary system? Do we speak about political evils from the pulpit? And how do we know which political evils to speak against? Does Bonhoeffer offer us clues there? Does Bonhoeffer give carte blanche to political assassinations in not-Hitler scenarios?

The film is fine. If you know a fair amount about Bonhoeffer, you will probably be a little bored. But hey, at least they didn't give Bonhoeffer the Lincoln treatment and make him gay. And maybe there will finally be the desire to implement the reforms that Bonhoeffer would have loved to see.

A Friend of God and an Enemy to the World- by J. Antonio Juarez

Unlike Pastor McClanahan I am not an expert on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. What I do know of his him comes from my own studies of World War 2, reading some of his writings in a college course on 20^th century theologians, and learning of his fight against the Nazi’s euthanasia program during pro-life activities. So I will not comment on the historicity of the film in terms of Bonhoeffer’s life or his theology. Although his words about a “religionless Christianity” rubbed me the wrong way and reminded me a little too much of that video that went viral over a decade ago, “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus” for my liking.

As far as the film goes, because it deals with the Nazi regime and its persecutions, a writing colleague of mine worried that the film would be too grim watch. However, the film bears its PG-13 rating well and is entirely watchable, even if I thought it was a little slow moving or overly sentimental at times in its portrayal of Bonhoeffer as some sort of hip youth pastor who gets caught up in dire circumstances. Yet, it is still a moving and uplifting story about a man who stood up to the Nazis and accepted his death with grace and dignity (even after he was offered a chance to escape).

There are two aspects about the film that struck a chord with me though. One was how the character of Bonhoeffer acted as both the voice of reason and of the gospel. His preaching about what should and should not be rendered unto Caesar was remarkable, as well as adhering to St. James by maintaining friendship with God, even if it meant enduring the enmity of the world. Although, to be honest, the portrayal of his decision to join the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler was a bit of a moral mess. He is accused of turning his back on his pacifistic beliefs and agrees to spy on the Nazi party by being a “better liar than the Devil.” Yet, later he offers up a plausible rationale for his participation in the assassination plot as an act of self-defense for the nation.

The second notable aspect of the film was how it dealt with the nature of evil in the Nazi regime. During his visit to America, Bonhoeffer experiences the racism of the 1930’s with his fellow student Frank Fisher. Bonhoeffer says that he is glad that they do not have that sort of thing in Germany, but Frank (foreshadowing Bonhoeffer’s return to Germany) reminds him that such discrimination is a human evil that exists everywhere.

Even though Nazi Germany existed for only twelve years, a mere mote of time compared to other world empires, it has come to epitomize the archetype of an evil empire. To be compared to or called a Nazi or Hitler, as the Democrats have and continue to do against Donald Trump and his supporters, is meant to convey a frightening accusation or an odious slander. Yet the film reminds us that evil and despotism are universal human qualities, a part of our fallen world, that exists on both the “Left” and the “Right” and everywhere in between.

In the case of Nazi Germany, Bonhoeffer’s faithfulness to the gospel (even unto death) highlighted the importance of Christianity in a nation and its politics. In 1832 a German poet name Heinrich Heine prophetically wrote in his book Religion and Philosophy in Germany,

“Christianity- and that is its greatest merit- has somewhat mitigated that brutal German love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once again burst into flame...The old stone gods will then rise from long ruins and rub the dust of a thousand years from their eyes, and Thor will leap to life with his giant hammer and smash the Gothic Cathedral.”

He went on to say that a “German thunder” would one day come that “would be unlike anything before it in the history of the world” and that a “play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll.”

One hundred and one years later, Heine’s words came true! But they reinforce the words and actions of Bonhoeffer shown in the film by highlighting the importance of putting the lordship of Christ first into hearts and minds of its citizens before going on to influence and participate in their government. The opposite of which is what happens when, as seen in the film, the people of a nation like Germany not only grow lukewarm in their faith but they (including their pastors) openly embrace the spirit of the anti-Christ and collectively shout, “We have no king but Caesar!” The former sentiment was demonstrated in the film by a communion scene Bonhoeffer held before his execution (even allowing an SS guard to attend), while the latter reality was exemplified by the Nazi regime (the “German Thunder”) which imprisoned and executed him and millions of others throughout their reign.

Photo Credit- Evangelical Focus