Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin (2024)

Brent Marchant December 1, 2024

★ 4/10

Heroes come in many forms, and, regrettably, they often go unrecognized for their efforts, which is why movies honoring them for their accomplishments can be so vitally important, particularly in attempts at correcting the oversight of being overlooked. However, when it comes to writer-director Todd Komarnicki’s cinematic tribute to Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) (Jonas Dassler), a little-recognized German theologian who was sharply critical of the Nazis’ treatment of Jews and imprisoned dissidents during World War II, that noble goal goes largely unfulfilled. To be perfectly honest, this film is dreadfully dull, relying on a lot of preaching and protracted conversations to carry the narrative, not exactly what I would call engaging and compelling viewing. Indeed, if Bonhoeffer was supposedly so influential in spearheading German resistance against the Third Reich and criticism of G…

CinemaSerf March 12, 2025

★ 6/10

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Jonas Dassler) is a pacifist pastor who is furious at the acquiescence of the German church with the rise of the Naziism and the establishment of the puppet “Reichskirche”. Unlike many, though, he is prepared to use his position in the pulpit and preach to anyone who will listen of the folly of this plan. Needless to say, this doesn’t go down well and so he has to spend a lot of time out of the country whilst many of those left behind fall victim to persecution. That absence has it’s uses, though, as he hopes to galvanise opinion in both the USA and the UK - a task all the harder when his forebodings fall largely on deaf or unwilling ears. It’s when his colleagues come up with a plan to assassinate their Führer that the threads of his multi-timeline story and his life start to come together and we realise just how perilous his position is when he finally r…