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Bonhoeffer Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: Not Rated by First Run Features Directed by: Martin Doblmeier Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes Cast: Klaus Maria Brandauer (voice of Bonhoeffer) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Sitting in a jail cell awaiting his certain death, Dietrich Bonhoeffer lamented his personal shortcomings and the tragedies of a dark age. "I am guilty of cowardly silence at a time when I ought to have spoken," he wrote in the waning days of World War II. "I am guilty of hypocrisy and untruthfulness in the face of force. I have been lacking in compassion and I have denied the poorest of my brethren. I am guilty of disloyalty and of apostasy from Christ. What does it matter to you whether others are guilty too?"

Certainly this is not the Bonhoeffer we remember and revere today. Yet this remarkable and complex man considered even his life an unworthy sacrifice for the God he loved. A tremendously gifted Lutheran theologian, Bonhoeffer wasn't widely known or honored during his too short life. But in his death, Christians have been challenged by his radical call to discipleship and inspired by his courageous martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis. Now producer and director Martin Doblmeier has translated Bonhoeffer's extraordinary life into an informative and compelling documentary.

The documentary begins with Bonhoeffer's upbringing in a middle class family living just outside Berlin. Not a particularly religious family, his parents reacted with surprise when Bonhoeffer informed them of his intent to enter ministry. In the aftermath of World War I, the German church lacked credibility because of their enthusiastic support for the failed war effort.

While in seminary, Bonhoeffer was heavily influenced by the writings of eminent Swiss theologian Karl Barth. When Bonhoeffer completed his Ph.D. at 21, Barth declared his dissertation "a theological miracle." Soon, however, Hitler's rise to power in Germany overshadowed all else. Doblmeier challenges the audience by juxtaposing Romans 13 passages on submission to government with Hitler's call for Germans to take up arms in the name of God.

Long before World War II or the Holocaust, Bonhoeffer publicly criticized Hitler for mocking God by posing himself as an idol for the downtrodden German people. But Bonhoeffer's qualms not only attracted Hitler's ire, but also pitted him against many church leaders. Like many other Germans, these church leaders were transfixed by Hitler's charisma and promises of restored German glory.

Here Doblmeier fails to adequately explain how Bonhoeffer evaded Hitler's trance. At the time, much of the German Protestant church suffered from the debilitating effects of liberal theology that distrusted the Bible and downplayed Christ's sacrifice and resurrection. They even twisted theology to incorporate Hitler's racist ideology. But Bonhoeffer, who respected biblical revelation and preached Christ's "costly grace," rejected Hitler's deadly agenda. Doblmeier does not show how Bonhoeffer came to an evangelical faith and how he differed from his church opponents.

However, Doblmeier deftly handles the delicate issue of church contributions to the Holocaust. He properly delineates the differences between anti Judaism and anti Semitism, showing how Christians could reject Judaism but avoid veering into racism. Bonhoeffer understood this difference, and called on Christians to stand up for persecuted Jews. He proposed three options for Christian action—petition the state on behalf of the Jews, directly aid the victims, or jam themselves as a spoke in the Nazi wheel by taking whatever action necessary to stop the regime. Bonhoeffer did all three, but would go down in history for taking the third option. Despite pacifist tendencies, Bonhoeffer joined the German resistance and lent his moral credibility to those plotting Hitler's assassination. This seeming contradiction deserves examination, but Doblmeier does not provide this insight.

Bonhoeffer partially developed his activist social conscience during a pre war stint studying in New York City. He was inspired by the emotional brand of Christianity practiced by African Americans in Harlem, and empathized with their quest for equal rights. Doblmeier excels at scene setting, and expertly captures Bonhoeffer's stay in Harlem with black spirituals playing in the background. Elsewhere he transports viewers back in time with a moving recording of Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" and a chilling rendition of "Silent Night," sung with the visual backdrop of a swastika topped Christmas tree.

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