If it had been released just two years ago, “Bonhoeffer” might have come across as simply the latest in a long line of respectable but predictable period dramas about brave Germans who dared to stand up to the Nazi regime. Today, however, the movie feels more like an uncomfortably timely cautionary tale with unsettling echoes of current events.
Not just because it reminds us that, in the late 1930s, Hitler’s sympathizers distributed a Nazified version of the Bible that depicted Jesus as a pure-bred Aryan — and demanded loyalty to Der Fuhrer in one of two extra commandments added to the original text. (Sales were huge.) Written and directed by Todd Komarnicki, a filmmaker arguably known best as the scripter for “Sully” from Clint Eastwood (who gets a special thanks shout-out in the closing credits hwew), “Bonhoeffer” illustrates the relative ease with which Hitler gained the acceptance and eventual fealty of the German people during the post-WWI era, by playing on feelings of resentment, distrust, and wounded national pride.
“Every bad thing that ever happened in Germany landed on the doorstep of the Jews and the Communists,” one character notes. “And there were enough people begging for bread to believe it.” To be sure, not every German bought the propaganda. “But Hitler only needed to fool the people who came out to vote.”
And as someone else claims: “God sent Germany a prophet. And more than that, a true savior.” It’s a line that would have had impact on audiences at just about any point in time. But it sounds so much like something that might be said, or has already been said, by contemporary true believers in a power-hungry leader; the effect is borderline devastating.
Among the nonbelievers: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Jonas Dassler), a deeply religious yet courageously outspoken Lutheran minister who recognizes the dangers posed by Hitler and his regime early on, and is gradually drawn into a resistance movement as he witnesses such barbarism as the persecution and imprisonment of Jews, and the brutal intimidation of his fellow clergymen who fear the consequences of speaking truth to power. He takes grave risks — including making a secret trip to England in the hope of convincing Winston Churchill to join the fight to overthrow Hitler. Unfortunately, the Brit feels the time is not yet right for such drastic measures.
Push comes to shove, and Bonhoeffer becomes an initially reluctant then passionately enthusiastic co-conspirator in a plot to assassinate Hitler. Not surprisingly, some members of his clandestine group are not ready to support such extreme measures. One questions: “Will God forgive us if we do this? Bonhoeffer replies: “Will God forgive us if we don’t?”
Komarnicki skillfully utilizes a time-tripping structure to trace Bonhoeffer’s evolution from pampered child of a well-to-do family to political prisoner held captive in the SS barracks at the Buchenwald concentration camp. The bulk of the narrative unfolds in flashback, as Bonhoeffer spends his days incarcerated by scribbling in his Bible — his own, not one of the Nazified editions — and recounting how and why his life’s journey took him where it has. Some memories are amusing — Bonhoeffer’s visit to Black nightclubs and church services during a 1930s New York visit fuels his desire to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Others are heart-wrenching, or worse.
Occasionally, a scrap of heavy-handed dialogue or a cliché-laden scene is too on the nose by half. To cite only the most egregious example: When Bonhoeffer’s older brother goes off to fight with the German Army during World War I, Komarnicki does everything short of planting a vulture on the guy’s shoulder and painting a bullseye on his back to indicate that he won’t make it home alive. And then there’s this unfortunate howler: “The Nazis’ rise to power has everyone a little anxious, Dietrich.”
On the other hand, the filmmaker also makes effective use of some timeworn narrative conventions to build and sustain suspense. This is especially true during a gripping sequence in which Komarnicki cross-cuts between a close-but-no-cigar assassination attempt on Hitler and Bonhoeffer’s rehearsal of an anti-Nazi speech in a Harlem church.
Dassler shrewdly portrays Bonhoeffer with carefully calibrated measures of zeal, sincerity, boldness and, on occasion, terror. He is backed by well-cast supporting players — even the actors doing fleeting cameos as Churchill (Tim Hudson) and Hitler (Marc Bessant) fully commit to their roles without belaboring the obvious. The superior production values reinforce the persuasive period flavor of the entire enterprise, even as almost everything else in “Bonhoeffer” reminds us that, as William Faulkner warned us, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
