At The Movies: Bonhoeffer – Pastor, Spy, Assassin
The true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who risks his faith to support the Jews against total annihilation.
As a young boy he decides that he wants to join the Church and, as a young man, is sent to New York to pursue his theologian studies. There he befriends fellow student, Frank Fisher (David Jonsson), an African American. He is welcomed into their community and discovers jazz music and the joys of gospel sermons. He also soon discovers the extreme racial prejudice and hatred evident in 1930s America, saying that “we don’t have anything like this in Germany”.
On his return to Germany he is horrified to see that Hitler has taken over the church and using it to sway Lutherans and Catholics to his ideologies. As bibles and crosses are removed from the churches and replaced with copies of Mein Kampf and Swastikas, Dietrich decides that he cannot remain silent and see the persecution of Jews. He uses a sermon as his opportunity to speak out against the Nazis, and his colleagues for allowing the Nazis to take over and defile the church.
Speaking out puts him in immense peril and he is sent to England as a spy to try and convince the Church there of what is actually happening in Germany under Hitler. On his return he is taken to a hideaway where he is coerced into teaching other young theologian students his was of thinking as opposed to Hitler’s.
Deciding that the only way he can really do anything is to return to Germany, he is always at risk of being arrested. Events lead him to going against his faith and convictions and join a plot to assassinate Hitler.
The courage shown by Bonhoeffer against the evil of Hitler, his Nazi party and their plan to eliminate the Jewish population, is incredible. The movie is quite compelling – though it is one that jumps around a lot, which is very confusing to follow and keep track of when some of the events are occurring. It starts in 1945 when he has been arrested, then jumps back to his time in the USA, then to 1945, back to the 1930’s, etc.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote several books – many written in prison – which have sold millions of copies worldwide. He considered giving his own life a worthwhile option to try and protect the lives of innocent Jews. He has a statue outside Westminster Abbey alongside Martin Luther King Jr. – a true hero indeed.
Movie Review by John Glennie
Rating: PG
Runtime: 132 minutes
