Movie Review - Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.

Let me tell you, this was a hard movie to watch so soon after the results of the last election here in the US (2024). The echos of Germany 1933 are still audible and seemingly growing louder.

About the movie

The acting was good, not great. I think it's mostly due to the script being torn between simultaneously telling a story about a man and a cause and a historical time, all at the same time. They didn't do a bad job, but neither did they do a great job.

The editing was the one thing that stood out to me that could have been better. It felt choppy, and jumped around too much. There are some scenes that could have been cut, and also a few transition scenes could have helped the flow.

7:42●●● 95%

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Early in the movie there are some good scenes that begin Dietrich's character development. There's a nice scene with his twin sister, and the scenes in the jazz club were okay. But what was missing were a few scenes like this scattered throughout the movie. Once the shit gets real every scene has serious overtones. A few extra scenes to break up the seriousness could have provided more ups and downs, making it a more poignant movie. Instead, the last hour or more of the movie is a constant slog against the inevitable.

Another angle the writers might have taken is to tell more of the story about the soldier who gave the bible back to Dietrich. There's some real meat in that. Maybe telling a story about how he was misled into the inequities of the Nazi party and how he came to realize his error but was already trapped. There's great stuff in that, but his character is never developed.

Grade: B

Plot
As the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer joins a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler, risking his faith and fate to save millions of Jews from genocide.