Bonhoeffer

It looks like a PBS piece ... because it undoubtedly will be. The support credits include some of the few remaining funding sources for long-form documentary work ... but that's just the bankroll, not the message. For those who have spent more than a few moments wondering how the impressive intellectual and cultural powers of Germany in the '30's and '40's could have "allowed" Hitler to wreak the genocide and destruction that he did, start here. "Bonhoeffer" digs into the mind and spirit of one man... but the filmmaker's eye never blinks. The careful balance of grainy black and white, motion camera exploration of archival stills and contemporary color footage of eyewitnesses, historians and theologians creates a tapestry that romances the viewer into wondering who this "Dietrich" is ... then experiencing his personal struggles and turmoil ... then taking shallow breaths as he poses for a picture in the Tegel prison courtyard in a jacket and tie -- gentleman to the end. The closing fog- bound color photography of Flossenburg (the concentration camp where Bonhoeffer was hanged literally days before the allies arrived) is chilling. The perfect coda.

The story of Dietrich Bonhoffer has been waiting to be told for some time. His life had many elements that easily make for a compelling movie. His refusal to fall in line with the Nazi party, his secret machinations to help overthrow Hitler and his eventual hanging as a spy are just a few of them.

Unfortunately, this documentary does little to build any excitement and mostly relies on a number of talking heads. Most of them are theological experts and historians. Some of them are prone to wander off on verbal tangents, losing the audience and losing focus.

The more interesting speakers are the people that actually knew the man, such as his brother-in-law and the sister of his fiance. Their recollections are the most insightful and interesting.

In the few times Bonhoffer is quoted, actor Klaus-Maria Brandauer speaks the words and does an excellent job. As someone else has noted, he would have done even better to have been the narrator. The person narrating the film seems rather wooden and distant from the material.

What truly seemed to be missing from this film was a sense of what drove Bonhoffer to do what he did --- which was to essentially break stride with the rest of the German Church and draw attention to himself in a time when such actions could cost him his life (which they eventually did). He spoke out against the mistreatment of Jews and even formed his own seminary. He went against his own pacifist views to take part in a plot to assassinate Hitler. What compelled him to do these things? The movie doesn't truly attempt to get at this.

While Bonhoffer is a good attempt at telling the story of a man who gave his life for what he believed in, it's honestly a rather boring documentary that will sadly be overlooked by most who aren't already familiar with Bonhoffer's life.

It is more than a biographic documentary. Or an admirable history lesson . It is a Christian portrait about the fair relation front to evil. It is the evolution of a young man discovering the life in its essence and defining, in simple - precise manner, his duty about it. It is a story about courage, sacrifice and consciense.

No doubts, many films about Bonhoeffer.

This seems special for the wise manner to remind basic priorities defining us , offering, off course , a suggestion more than a model.

In short, useful sounds real fair. Because, against illusions, the challenges of his time are less different by ours.

I am pleased to see this documentary (2003 by writer-director Martin Doblmeier) and thankful for his balanced approach to let the voice of this Activist Christian teacher and constructive Theologian impact those who need to know his Pacifist Theology and Political Protest. He is not only a part of the Barmen Declaration framers who objected to NAZI takeover of post-WW I Germany but also a martyr whose writings (Christian life and orthodox Protestant doctrine) on Discipleship (Nachfolge) and Ethics still impact Protestant theologians and Social Ethical dissenters. Highly recommend this B & W / color archive interviews and contextual footage of the Holocaust and the aftermath / devastation of defeat of Third Reich / Hitlerism.

This documentary reviews the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer with the focus on the relationship between his religious beliefs and his personal actions. Factually, there's little in the movie that you could not get from Google. Bonhoeffer was one of a minority of Christian leaders in Germany who publicly and privately opposed the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. What the film does is anecdotally present the growth of Bonhoeffer's theology from the conventional Lutheranism of his upbringing into a kind of social activism in which the actions of one's life are what bring one to Christ. The defining moment is when Bonhoeffer arrives in New York, intending to teach at Union Seminary, only to realize "one who believes does not flee." The film notes the irony that while Bonhoeffer did not like Reinhold Niebuhr, by the end of his life he was living the kind of social activism preached by Niebuhr.

The film itself is well-made and follows a standard documentary format, with period films, stills and interviews with surviving friends and family. Significant passages from Bonhoeffer's writing are mixed into the narrative description.

Bonhoeffer was a pastor, teacher and theologian. His life was not exciting in the conventional sense, although he did some spying against the Nazis that must have been nerve racking. And much of this film is spent relating belief and action. The question asked and answered for him was a simple one: To what extent are our actions the consequence of our beliefs? It's the question we are left to ponder for ourselves.