Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a brave man. A German pastor in the 1930s and 40s, he spoke out against Hitler and the horrors being perpetrated against the Jewish people by the Nazis when the German Catholic Church preferred to stay silent. He could not just stand by, even if it meant he was risking his own life, not content to use his words from a distance. Considering the current state of the world, it is a depressingly fitting time to put his story on film. If only it was done with nuance, instead of a sledgehammer.
Bonhoeffer (124 minutes, without the end credits) hasn’t met an emotion it wasn’t interested in manipulating in the most obvious way possible. The movie establishes Bonhoeffer’s unshakable position that God would not want his people to abandon anyone, especially in the name of an evil who thinks themselves above God. It then continuously makes the same point for two hours, in heavy-handed speech after repetitive speech. The writing seems to think on-the-nose is a compliment, the editing lets nothing breathe and the performances are pitched to the back rows. Subtlety is a myth in this movie. The message is valuable; the execution is definitely not.
The story jumps back-and-forth between the title character’s determination to use his status to condemn the Nazis and his later imprisonment by them. There is very little in the way of action. It is mainly him sharing his views with others in scenes of gradually decreasing power. There is a whole heck of a lot of tell, with almost no show. This is all symbolism. Though we hear a lot about the potential goodness of humanity, the characters are never individuals with developed motivations. The screenplay insists upon what an incredible person Dietrich Bonhoeffer was over and over again. It never gives its audience the chance to decide that for ourselves.
Writer/director Todd Komarnicki seems to think the message is enough. Who cares how the story is told, as long as it gets told? Of course, a movie is entirely about how it chooses to tell its story. Not a single second of Bonhoeffer makes it seem like anyone involved understood that concept. Not Komarnicki, not editor Blu Murray, nor any of the actors. Jonas Dassler, as Bonhoeffer, overplays literally everything. Happiness, sadness, curiosity, fear; he ensures that no audience member could possibly miss how they are supposed to feel at any given time. It is exhausting to watch and took me out of every moment.
Again, the messages here are really positive. Hatred is bad. Don’t fail to act while others are being persecuted. Don’t allow those with selfish motives to manipulate you into doing what you know is wrong. Those who require their entertainment to have strong morals and peerless role models will certainly appreciate this. However, good intentions only get you so far. Bonhoeffer preaches at its audience, never trusting this man’s actions to make the necessary points on their own. The result is well-meaning, but interminable.
Bottom line: I did not enjoy Bonhoeffer because it is poorly made. Much like a lot of summer fare is clearly rushed product designed to get people into the theater, this is product aimed at a very specific, underserved, audience, by executives who couldn’t care less about quality. If it was well-made, it would be worthwhile. Unfortunately, it is clumsy and artless. It has useful things to say, yet it shouts them, as opposed to imparting them through a compelling story. Morality isn’t everything. Here, it is barely anything.
1½ out of 5
Cast:
Jonas Dassler as Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Phileas Heyblom as Young Dietrich Bonhoeffer
August Diehl as Martin Niemoller
Moritz Bleibtreu as Karl Bonhoeffer
Nadine Heidenreich as Paula Bonhoeffer
Written/Directed by Todd Komarnicki
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