L'espion de Dieu

I agree with other reviews that found two major faults with this movie.

AUTHOR. The movie tells us (in the scripts) that B wrote many many books about faith. Yet the movie itself never shows him writing or publishing or discussing any books. The most we see is B writing his thoughts in a journal.

ASSASSIN. Yes historically there were many failed plots to assassinate Hitler, and in fact the movie shows us such a plot. But there are no facts in the movie to show that B was ever arrested or charged with this. It's a very serious gap in the story.

BOTTOM LINE. I'm sorry, but I think B deserves a better script and a livelier story. The movie Valkarie with Tom Cruise (a non religious story) that depicts a failed assassination attempt on Hitler is a good example.

The Bonhoeffer movie could have used a lot more action to break up what were tedious conversations about faith in the face of evil.

I have never really understood the back and forth with timeline's, a glimpse into the past should correlate with what is taking place in the present. Otherwise just play it out in chronological order (just my opinion). We both left the theater (my wife and I) about so much, I was able to get more context in one paragraph on Wikipedia (IE: spent 1.5 years in prison and was tried for participating in the attempt on Hitler and more). The message is good and needed, especially today with so much division in our country. I love what Angel Studio's does, getting quality productions out in the main stream and I will continue to support them. This is just my honest review, not trying to be critical.

Having high hopes, I was disappointed in Bonhoeffer. The narrative was choppy, the pace was slow, and the plot felt disjointed. Plus, it was hard to understand the dialogue with the accents, I felt like I should've waited for it to come out on streaming and watched it at home with the captions on. However, the acting was good and the production values were excellent. I love the fact that more and more Christian-themed movies are being made today and wholeheartedly support Angel Studios, I just wish that the movies had better scripts and were more entertaining, beyond being primarily focused on inspiration.

As a date married couple's night movie, it was fine. The imagery was marvelous. The casting was good; some even great.

But the actual story telling was pretty awful in that there were many points in the movie when we looked at each other with "what the heck?" expressions and later discussions. Too much was cued up and left hanging, or even made confusing to the point of unlikely or absurd. It's as if the screenwriter continually wrote himself into a corner, and then just jarringly jumped over an immense plot hole or critical detail, and into the next scene. You shouldn't need such a Deus ex Machina when you've got the real God in the story!

The biggest flaw, though, is that with actual well-documented history like Bonhoeffer's, the emotion should not have come from over-acting, pregnant pauses and close-up tears. It should come from the true story all by itself.

And that part, sorry to say, was mostly missing.

Well clarified the passion and resolve of B and the confessing church. Loved the flashback model, the cast was well selected, the film moved along well. Loved the portrayal of B's relationship with his brother Walter and the depth of family connection and love. Being that the plight of the Jewish people under Hitler was a central focus I was surprised there was no mention of B's twin sister being married to a Jewish man and moving to England. Well done over all. I shed tears and wish I will one day be as courageous as B if faced with such choices. Thanks for producing this film. I recommend it.