November 26, 2024 – I had never even heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer prior to the release of this movie, but I got a quick education on him, and the controversy surrounding this movie, after doing my post-movie research. It turns out that Bonhoeffer was a great hero, equal to Alexei Navalny (1976-2024) who gave his life in opposition to the corrupt and evil Russian government.

Both Bonhoeffer and Navalny returned to their native countries to face death when they would have been safer in exile. Bonhoeffer returned to Nazi Germany from the United States in 1939 despite the danger, as Navalny did in returning to Russia in 2021. Bonhoeffer was a vocal opponent of Germany's persecution of the Jews and other minority groups. He also opposed religious leaders who embraced the Nazi regime.

The movie follows Bonhoeffer (played by Jonas Dassler of “The Golden Glove”) through a religious journey, that includes New York City and Washington, D.C., where he learns about racism, jazz and gospel music. Bonhoeffer's spiritual journey is told through a series of flashbacks to his experiences in America and Germany earlier in life, including his grief as a child over his older brother's death in World War I.

The movie portrays Bonhoeffer as a willing participant in an attempt to assassinate Hitler in 1942, and that is disputed by some people. It turns out Bonhoeffer was a very complicated man, and this movie oversimplifies his views on such things as assassinating Adolph Hitler. What is not disputed is that Bonhoeffer was aware of some of the plots against Hitler through his associations with some of the plotters.

Some people claim this movie supports white nationalists (that is one of the controversies) but I sure didn't see that. It should be noted that there have been a couple of assassination attempts against Donald Trump and both failed. Some argue this is a sign that God is on Trump's side. By some estimates, there were 42 assassination attempts against Adolph Hitler over the years (according to Wikipedia) starting in 1939, and they all failed. Following the same argument, God was on Hitler's side.

Many of the controversies surrounding this movie involve theology. One statement made by Bonhoeffer in the film that has drawn the ire of some theologians for obvious reasons is this, “We need Christ without religion.” This seems to argue for a personal relationship with God, while at the same time criticizing the excesses of a religious establishment which is in bed with the government. Some argue this is an oversimplification of Bonhoeffer's actual theology.

There is no doubt, however, that in this movie, Bonhoeffer is a religious man at his very core. Much of this movie is about religion, but there is one extended scene about an attempted assassination of Hitler by Rudolf-Christoph Von Gersdorff (Felix von Bredow of “All Quiet on the Western Front”) in 1943, using an explosive suicide vest.

What I got out of this movie is that it is totally against antisemitism. It warns of the dangers of nationalism, and charismatic leaders who promote bigotry and fear for political gain. That describes Christian Nationalists in America today. For instance, Joel Webbon, President and Founder of Right Response Ministries, says, “If you are not being called a Nazi, you are not pushing against the postwar consensus hard enough. If you are not being called a racist, then you probably ... at some level, have given in to anti-white discrimination. If you are not being called antisemitic, then you are probably not pushing hard enough against Zionism, which is not Biblical and not true to God's word ...”

Bonhoeffer wrote, “Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity.” Bonhoeffer indicated that this kind of stupidity is not an intellectual failing, but a moral one, in which the person has lost control over his own beliefs.

Bonhoeffer writes that the person overcome with this stupidity “ ... is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like, that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.”

Bonhoeffer could not have foreseen the internet, or the pernicious effect of social media in spreading vast amounts of misinformation, but he would certainly recognize the kinds of stupidity now evident in the flat-Earthers, the 9-11 truthers, the Pizzagaters, the anti-vaxers, the anti-GMOers, the election deniers, the climate change deniers, the moon landing deniers, the Covid lab origin believers, the chemtrailers, the Q-Anon believers, Alien conspiracy believers and all the other crazy conspiracy ideas embraced these days, some of which pose a clear and present danger to this country.

This is a movie with great emotional power, and it portrays Bonhoeffer in a very heroic light, which he certainly deserves. There are historical inaccuracies in the film, and Bonhoeffer's theology is probably very much oversimplified, yet it casts religion in a very positive way. This is a well acted movie that gets it pro-Christianity, heroic message across.

Some argue that this movie pushes white Christian nationalism, but in order to see it that way, you'd have to be living in a right wing information bubble. Bonhoeffer, like the Bible itself, can be, given sufficient force, twisted to satisfy vastly different viewpoints. For instance, the Bible has been used to promote slavery, and to oppose slavery, at the same time. I think this movie's message is clear, and it is a message for good. This film rates a B.

I'd like to thank sprouts schools YouTube channel (by way of the religious site onthewing.org) for their information on Bonhoeffer's theory of stupidity, and Jesse Dollemore's YouTube podcast, by way of the Right Wing Watch YouTube channel, for the quotes I got from Joel Webbon's video. Videos on both subjects can be found on their respective YouTube channels and web sites.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff (no extra charges apply). I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2024 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at