I don’t really want to defend any film dramatization. I prefer nonfiction books and documentaries for their accuracy too. “Based on a true story” film dramatizations are a two-hour teaser about a person or event for people who aren’t going to read the book or watch the documentary!
But I have read seven (?) reviews of the Bonhoeffer film by Bonhoeffer scholars and watched it and have read all of Bonhoeffer’s books and I haven’t yet heard a persuasive damning criticism of the film. And I have disagreed vehemently with a historical judgment in each scholarly review!
In any dramatization, they do not have recordings of all of what was said so they have to make up scenes of dialogue. And it is someone’s decades-long life and so the filmmakers are summarizing it and unlike a documentary are trying to pack each scene with meaning that captures multiple events.
With all historical figures, a lot of the important stuff they did was not done publicly but privately. With Bonhoeffer, his best friend Eberhard Bethge wrote a 1000-page biography but still our knowledge of Bonhoeffer’s involvement of assassination plots and his time in prison are a little fuzzy.
Regarding And-Democrats-are-the-Nazis! purveyor Eric Metaxas:
Other Bonhoeffer scholars were consulted in the making of the film. The filmmakers distanced themselves from Eric Metaxas after 2018. The actors denounced Metaxas. The family of Bonhoeffer denounced Metaxas. Metaxas recommends the film.
Things I disagree with from the reviews:
– “Bonhoeffer wasn’t into politics.” What? He was obsessed with Hitler’s regime.
– “Finkenwalde wasn’t raided by Gestapo.” Yes, it was!
– “Bonhoeffer didn’t give sermon denouncing Hitler.” Yes, he did on the radio!
– “Bonhoeffer wasn’t a spy.” Yes, he was a double-agent trying to undermine Hitler but in military intelligence.
– “Bonhoeffer didn’t help Jews escape.” Yes, he created a ruse to help Jewish brother-in-law escape.
– “Bonhoeffer was a pacifist.” Yes, but read Ethics see him struggling with this!
– “That’s not what happened at the end.” I want to read the brand new book (October 15, 2024) on this!
– “The secondary characters were more important and nuanced than is depicted.” The movie focuses on Dietrich!
– “He is depicted as jettisoning his theology for violence and power.” Does it really?
– “It depicts him as an assassin.” Does it? He is part of a couple of meetings in the film and we have many indications from his writings that he did have some knowledge of the assassination planning.
– “He never saluted Hitler.” He had to. He did it with Bethge once and explained this was an unavoidable compromise.
– “He wasn’t slapped in Harlem.” But he was deeply moved by and close with Black Christians in Harlem. He did road trip through the South. He was later tortured in prison in Germany.