Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace

Bonhoeffer was a very well done movie about the legendary Christian leader and minister Deitrich Bonhoeffer. It told his story, warts and all. It showed the philosophical dilemna that a Man of God struggled through and eventually is sacrificed for. It is a insight into a man who wanted to serve God and mankind, the conflicts, the way he touched others lives, then and now through is great writings. I recommend it.

No doubts, an admirable film. For performance and for for the wise use of low budget to propose not only a biopic about Dietrich Bonhoeffer but a fair remind of fundamental values defining our society, the danger , in its different forms, the moral dilemma of a brilliant teologian and the sacrifice for save the other and the sense of a time. Sure, many critics are valable but the film is just decent and seductive for the inspired exploration of a difficult subject, easy to be prey of pathetic temptations. It is a sketch and a profound religious film because the essence of the work of Bonhoeffer is to serve God being profound helpful to His believers . A film about moral, maybe too simple for many tastes but real honest. Short, just an admirable portrait of a man and, in some serious measure, portrait of our times.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my favorite "faith heroes". A friend introduced me to his "Cost of discipleship" when I was at college and I was delighted to read, some years later, his "Letters from prison". Dietrich Bonhoeffer was, indeed, a true Christian and a man to admire. So when I learned that "Agent of Grace" was being released, I was immediately caught up. I saw the film some days ago but, sadly, it did not meet my expectations. I found the film rather boring and confusing: from start to end the emotional level is a flat line, no important ups and downs, no emotions spoken out (the scriptwriters apparently forgot the richness and profoundness of "Letters from prison"). The historical backdrop (WW2, Nazi's rule and conspiracy against Hitler, etc.) is not clear enough for the average spectator to understand what and why things in the film are going on they way they are. But most of all, the movie fails to show the inner struggle of a young man that has everything to loose but chooses to be faithful to his Lord.

In Mexico this movie was aired only in PayTV. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life, is a true example about a good German and specially, about a good man. The conversations between Tukur's character and the Nazi prosecutor are specially interesting. A true ideas' war: two different Germans, both with faith in there believes. Bonhoeffer was a very complex person: man, freedom fighter, boyfriend, churchman and a great intellectual; Ulrich Tukur is outstanding as Bonhoeffer. I recommended this film a lot, specially in this difficult times for the planet. In Mexico we don't know a lot about Pastor Bonhoeffer life and legacy, this is a great work for rescue a forgotten hero.

Imagine you were someone who knew nothing of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and you thought that this movie might shed a little light on the life of a man who is renowned in Christian intellectual circles. You would be sorely disappointed by this offering. The movie gives no account of Boenhoeffer's early life, he springs fully adult like Adam in the Garden. The movie also gives no real account of later life. It portrays a series of vignettes in which he is peripherally involved in events in Germany, a passive observer of tumultuous occurrences that might seem to be of importance if only we had some explanation of what they were, who was involved, and how they came to be. None of that. Bonhoeffer drifts along in the stream of occurrences until he is swept away to a Gestapo prison where he makes a poor attempt at fooling the bad guys and is eventually killed. Apparently, Bonhoeffer was an admirer of Gandhi. Well, there you go.

I gave it three stars because Robert Joy does a good job of portraying the Gestapo menace. His is the only character that has an obvious motive which is carried out as one would expect. Everyone else is a two-dimensional NPC, reacting as programmed for reasons that are not given and not apparent.