Co-missioners,
A new movie about Dietrich Bonhoeffer appeared in U.S. theaters within the past two months. You may have heard of it. Today we’re pleased to send you a thoughtful and timely review.
Peace and Joy.
The Crossings Community
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The Betrayal of Bonhoeffer and his Christ:
A Review of the Film Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin
by Michael Hoy
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin was released in theaters in the United States on this past November 22, about two weeks after the 2024 presidential elections. (Some would call this timing coincidental; I think it was intentional.) I had read several advance reviews of the movie. Hardly any of them were supportive, some going so far as to warn viewers about the film’s depiction of Bonhoeffer. I also read statements released by the International Bonhoeffer Society which condemned the filmmakers for misusing Bonhoeffer’s life and legacy for ideological purposes that promote the extremes of political violence and Christian Nationalism. [1]
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (Breslau, Germany, today Wroclaw, Poland, February 4, 1906 – Flossenbürg, Germany, April 9, 1945). German Lutheran theologian and pastor, member of the anti-Nazi German resistance and founding member of the Confessing Church.
From Wikimedia Commons
There are two major culprits who should be singled out for promoting these dangerous ideological purposes. Eric Metaxas, who wrote the 2010 biography of Bonhoeffer, is discredited by family descendants of Bonhoeffer, who said that his work “ignored the historical context and misrepresented Bonhoeffer as a fundamentalist Evangelical.” Far from repenting of these errors, Metaxas has gone on to support right-wing agendas and Donald Trump. In an X (Twitter) post of a year ago he compared President Biden to the Hitler of 1933-34. Meanwhile he has continued to misuse Bonhoeffer’s life and ideas to portray the exact opposite of all that Bonhoeffer truly stood for. In similar fashion, the Foreword to Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project (“a blueprint for transforming the United States into an authoritarian state,” as some scholars called it) misuses Bonhoeffer’s phrase “cheap grace” to “discredit protection of refugees and care for the environment.” [2] While I am not suggesting that all of these distortions are attributable to Metaxas, it is clear that the religious-and-political-right have given Bonhoeffer a wax nose.
The other major culprit is Angel Studios, regarded as a “right-wing evangelical production company” [3], which secured the rights to this latest Bonhoeffer movie. Their own advertising for the film says, “The battle against tyranny begins now” and that this film “begs the question, how far you will go to stand up for what is right?”—promoting the movie with an image of Dietrich Bonhoeffer holding a gun!
The lead actors of the movie, to their credit, expressed their concerns about the misuse of the film to promote Christian nationalism and political violence: “The story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer teaches us that it is necessary to speak up against any authoritarian, violent attempt to damage democracy and Human Rights…. We distance ourselves from everyone who tries to take this film for narrative to take up arms and harm one another.” [4]
Let me be clear. While I affirm the law/gospel tradition and all of its implications, I personally believe in non-violence, and call into question any who want to justify violence and war. [5] I regard Christian Nationalism as an idolatrous blasphemy and betrayal of the gospel, and am already signed on with “Christians Against Christian Nationalism.” And finally, Bonhoeffer’s writings have been a joyous staple of mine for the past half-century, and I have no desire to see his life and legacy besmirched. I had many misgivings about even seeing the film. Nonetheless, I did want to view this more recent film if, for no other reason, to authenticate it for myself in light of all the critical assessments.
Nonetheless, I thought I might have waited too long in my misgivings toward seeing the film. Two weeks after its release, it was no longer being listed at any cinemas in my area. By chance, I stopped in at one local cinema and inquired. I learned that, yes, the film was no longer being promoted, but there was still one unlisted showing each morning. So, on December 6 (Feast of St. Nicholas), I went to see Bonhoeffer.
I noted that there were only about ten people in the theater during this showing. Given the actual results of the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump and MAGA, perhaps the “revolutionary moment” intended with this film’s promotion by its right-wing supporters was rendered passé. Ironically, I wondered if the film’s dramatic presentation of how German nationalism under Nazism had so deeply pervaded the German national church might even serve as a critical foil to any authoritarianism or nationalism in America today. It might even backfire on the incoming administration and its embrace by the white Evangelical church. [6]
At the outset, let me offer a few positive comments about the film. There were several of the key historical periods or “pegs” from Bonhoeffer’s life, including Bonhoeffer’s childhood years and his close relationship with his parents and siblings; his years at Union Seminary; his experiences in Harlem and at the Abyssinian Baptist Church; his love for playing the piano; his involvement with the Confessing Church and his teaching at the underground seminary in Finkenwalde; his involvement with the Abwehr (the German intelligence) and his awareness of the plot to assassinate Hitler; his brief return to the United States and his coming back to Germany; his incarceration and his death-by-hanging at the hands of the Nazis. The film also lifted up Bonhoeffer’s concerns about the injustices of racism (in America) and antisemitism (in Nazi Germany); and, on the whole, the cinematography was quite good as also the cast of mostly unknown actors, particularly the lead actor Jonas Dassler who was an excellent choice for playing the role of Bonhoeffer.
Eric Metaxas at Socrates in the City, photo by Jon Macapodi
From Wikimedia Commons
But, having said all that, overcoming Hitler and the Nazis seemed to be the real plot-line of this movie. Providing a truly authentic portrayal of its main character seemed less important. Bonhoeffer is not depicted as the pacifist that he was in life and even in death, but as a “go-get-the-bad-guys” hero figure. The film, therefore, reflects the title of Metaxas’s aforementioned biography, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, with an important (though not factual) added emphasis on Bonhoeffer as “Assassin.” Curiously, Metaxas reserves a second subtitle for his biography that is not listed on the cover but is noted on the publisher page inside the book: A Righteous Gentile vs. The Third Reich. [7] This latter subtitle certainly finds dramatic expression in this film which mischaracterizes the life and times of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The opening introduction to the film made a reference to Bonhoeffer as being a “hero.” “Hero” is one of those common words today that often raise my hackles of skepticism. One of the more legible notes that I jotted down on a piece of scratch paper in the darkened theater was “How does ‘hero’ reflect (or not) the cruciformed Christ whom Bonhoeffer trusted?”
In any event, there are any number of obvious historical inaccuracies in the film:
- Bonhoeffer’s relationship with Reinhold Niebuhr at Union is neglected; and in the film it is Bonhoeffer’s American friends encouraging Bonhoeffer to return to Germany to do what must be done, when in fact it was Bonhoeffer’s conscious (and conscience-driven) decision to return, even with the guilt which he authentically felt for his own involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler.
- Bonhoeffer travels to Washington, D.C. with a black friend, and is hit by the butt end of a rifle by a racist hotel manager.
- Bonhoeffer plays the piano in Harlem with a jazz band and later plays jazz again for his family back home.
- Martin Niemöller’s famous “First They Came” poem written after the war (1946) is cited as part of a sermon delivered in the national church years earlier in Nazi Germany.
- Bonhoeffer writes his Letters and Papers in almost totally darkened prison cell with hardly any light, seen as symbolic of the darkness of the times where this is little light to be found.
- Bonhoeffer is led alone by the Nazis to the gallows where there are three nooses and Bonhoeffer is fully clothed, when in fact he and others were executed together, and they were all naked. Moreover, the execution actually took place in the Flossenbürg concentration camp, but the film depicts it at a different location outside a schoolhouse.
But these historical inaccuracies are not the most damning problems with the film. What I really noted from the film was its dominant reliance on emotive passions, sometimes with a spirit of recklessness. At several points there are church scenes where there is raucous applause by the congregation. The applause is not about the gospel being preached (it never is, not even in the one Bonhoeffer-sermon depicted in the film) but about who in attendance at the service is being hailed (like Hitler) or being told to leave the assembly. It becomes an “us vs. them” emotive display, and sometimes the ones who are being depicted as the “bad guys” (mostly the Nazis, but also the German national church Nazi-sympathizers) get up and walk out.
Bonhoeffer, too, is consumed with these reckless emotive passions that further betray his history and theological convictions and turn him into a political agent to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer himself is seen walking out of the church in a spirit of zealous revolt when Hitler’s Mein Kampf replaces the lectionary in the national church. Bonhoeffer (not Barth) is the one seen issuing the Barmen Declaration. And most disturbing, Bonhoeffer is the one purposely and defiantly seeking to end the life of the dictator Hitler—even against the many protestations of his protégé Eberhard Bethge. In the midst of discussions about assassination plots, Bethge emphasizes the “Christ never sought to kill his enemies.” Bonhoeffer responds, “That was before Hitler.” Bethge challenges whether Hitler was the first evil leader since Scripture was written. Bonhoeffer responds, “No. But he’s the first one I can stop.” Bethge: “Will God forgive us if we do this?” Bonhoeffer (shouting): “Will he forgive us if we don’t?”
And here some of the most powerfully and notable words of Bonhoeffer are taken totally out of context and stripped of their gospel integrity. Bonhoeffer says, “when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die” (from 1937’s Nachfolge, or in English, The Cost of Discipleship)—but the words are used in the film to affirm a would-be assassin conspirator who is ready to blow himself up with his bomb-vest at the proper time of detonation during a meeting with Hitler. The plot fails, by the way, leading to the eventual arrest of Bonhoeffer.
Make no mistake: this film does not display the authentic historical truth of Bonhoeffer’s life and is nothing more and nothing less than a betrayal of Dietrich Bonhoeffer himself as well as of his gospel.
Living in tenuous times, we are always an Advent people waiting for the door to open (something that Bonhoeffer once said about his life in a prison cell). Crises and chaotic events will come, along with all manner of unfaithfulness. The only question is whether we will face such moments with the courage of faith or with the cowardice of fear. But perhaps, as many have suggested, we ought not call these “Bonhoeffer” moments, but more directly “Christian” moments—times for confessing—as part our daily life. For, after all, it was our Lord Christ who first took us aside with his disciples to share the apocalyptic warnings, “these things will come”—and encouraged us to look to Christ as our hope!
Bonhoeffer viewed a life of repentance as a life of honesty and telling the truth. Truthfully, this new Bonhoeffer movie is not honest. It is a monstrous betrayal of the life and legacy of this sainted man. But even more, it is blasphemous betrayal of Bonhoeffer’s (and our) Lord, Jesus the Christ. It invites political violence in the face of ugly times.
From Canva
Over a decade ago I wrote a short commentary entitled “Manichean America.” [8] My sense is that we have become ever increasingly Manichean, certainly on the right but also with signs of it on the left, where we speak not of all of us collectively as part of the human race that needs the embrace of God’s promise in Christ, but “us vs. them” and with insistence of certain “purity” laws in both church and state.
It was in the midst of viewing this film that I wrote down these words: “no mention of the gospel.” There was nothing truly evangelical or even saintly in this portrayal of Bonhoeffer. Even at Barmen there was more faithfulness to the gospel in this crucial time for confessing—a time of confessing before one’s church superiors, not a political adversary per se. [9] Indeed, in such times for confessing, Christ needs to be proclaimed. But Christ is not to be proclaimed as an assassin of our enemies. A time for confessing is not a time for loud and long prophetic railing at your political foes. It is a time for the faithful to call the church to be faithful to the gospel—which is our only source of life and unity, in all of life, and even in the face of death.
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Endnotes
[1] The International Bonhoeffer Society issued three critical statements: Statement by Bonhoeffer Scholars (October 2024): “Stop Misusing Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Support Political Violence and Christian Nationalism”; the Bonhoeffer Family Open Letter (October 18, 2024): “Nachkommen: Dietrich Bonhoeffer nicht verdrehen und missbrauchen!” with English translation, “Descendants: Do not distort and misuse Dietrich Bonhoeffer!”; and Statement of the Actors of the Bonhoeffer Movie (2024), “Lead Actors in ‘Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin’ Speak Out Together Against the Misuse of Bonhoeffer’s Legacy” (November 4, 2004); All three are available online: https://bonhoeffersociety.org/2024/11/04/statement-lead-actors-in-bonhoeffer-spy-pastor-assassin-speak-out-together-against-the-misuse-of-bonhoeffers-legacy/
There are also several reviews of the film available online. Among those that I read are the following: Rodney Kennedy, “New Bonhoeffer film offers mixed bag of emotions,” Baptist News Global (November 19, 2024); Victoria Barnett, “There’s no such thing as a Bonhoeffer moment,” Christian Century, (November 20, 2024); Myles Werntz, “’Bonhoeffer’ Bears Little Resemblance to Reality,” Christianity Today (November 20, 2024); Mac Loftin, “The new Bonhoeffer isn’t just bad, it’s dangerous,” Christian Century (November 21, 2024), Joe Leyden, “‘Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy Assassin.’ Review: Angel Studios’ Biopic of an Anti-Nazi WWII Hero Seems Unsettlingly Timely,” Variety, (November 21, 2024); John Anderson, “Review: ‘Bonhoeffer,’ Christian complicity and the fight against fascism,” America (November 22, 2024); Joseph Holmes, “After Months of Controversy, ‘Bonhoeffer’ Film from Angel Studios Opens in Theaters,” The Roys Report (November 23, 2024); Angela Decker, “I’m Pretty Sure Dietrich Bonhoeffer Would Have Hated Bonhoeffer: What it’s like to watch the right slowly claim one of your lifelong herores,” Slate (November 24, 2024).
[2] Ibid., from the Statement by Bonhoeffer Scholars.
[3] Ibid., from Family of Bonhoeffer Statement (English translation).
[4] For the full statement, cf. Ibid., Statement of the Actors of the Bonhoeffer Movie (2024), “Lead Actors in ‘Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin’ Speak Out Together Against the Misuse of Bonhoeffer’s Legacy” (November 4, 2024).
[5] Hence, I think we need to carefully and critically weigh our confessional position on “two kingdoms” (cf. e.g. AC 16:2) in light of historical conditions. Cf. Gary Simpson’s helpful reflections on this matter in War, Peace and God: Rethinking the Just-war Tradition, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007).
[6] Cf. my review of Russell Moore’s Losing Our Religion, https://crossings.org/thursday-theology-a-review-of-russell-moores-losing-our-religion/.
[7] Cf. Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (New York: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
[8]Michael Hoy, “Manichean America” (October 18, 2012), https://crossings.org/749-manichean-america/.
[9] In this regard, cf. especially Robert W. Bertram’s chapter, “Bonhoeffer’s ‘Battle(s) for Christendom’: His ‘Responsible Interpretation’ of Barmen,” in his book A Time for Confessing, ed. by Michael Hoy, (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008; reprinted by Fortress Press, 2017), 65-95
