Of course, we are pleased if deserving German -speaking actors can also get involved in international productions. The Jonas Dassler, which has been carelessly attentive to himself for years with very good performances in local works such as “The silent classroom” or “The Golden Gloves”, has so far been rather lucky. After the disappointing sect thriller “Berlin Nobody”, he drives the historical biopic “Bonhoeffer“Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), financed with US, Belgian and Irish funds, through the pastor, theologians and the resistance to the Nazi regime, also not better.
The script and staging come from Todd Komarnicki, who previously contributed the script to the Bruce-Willis flop “seduction of a stranger” tending towards Hochglanz-Trash and the Eddie Murphy cucumber “Mensch, Dave!” produced. The American's only director's work to date was the very narrow-minded world war romance “Resistance” (2003). At “Bonhoeffer” Komarnicki is now changing awkward between character drama and history thriller. In doing so, he irritates a lot of freedom in relation to the real events underlying his action.
One of (to) many artistic freedom: “Bonhoeffer” encloses a joint jazz past with Louis Armstrong to his title character.
Berlin in the 1930s: After a few years of theological studies in the USA, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Jonas Dassler) returned to Germany. Shocked, he registers the political and social changes in his home country. Over time, the young pastor is increasingly criticizing that the management of the Evangelical Church of Hitler's state terror – especially against citizens of Jewish faith – apparently not only tolerates, but even promoted him.
It doesn't take long for Bonhoeffer to get into powerful difficulties because of his sermons. With the help of Bishop Martin Niemöller (August Diehl), he can go into underonging and secretly work on a renewal of the church. When the situation in the country becomes more and more precarious, the previously convinced pacifist of a resistance cell around his brother -in -law, the Wehrmacht officer Hans von Dohnanyi (Flula Borg), closes to …
An open letter from the actors
In the United States, the film was already under the lurid title “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. ” brought to the cinemas-by Angel Studios, the rental behind the mega hit “Sound of Freedom”. Again, the Christian-national right was identified as the primary target group, which is also regularly courted by Donald Trump. Jonas Dassler and other cast college saw themselves prompted through an open letter From this, as they formulate it to distance “abuse of the Bonhoeffer enclosure”. In the film itself, however, Dassler and his German co-stars August Diehl and Moritz Bleibtreu, as Bonhoeffer's father, have a hard time to deliver convincing appearances. However, their performances are undermined by the dialogues, often without a pulpit, such as sermons and the unnecessarily tricky narrative structure.
Komarnicki is constantly jumping between Bonhoeffer's childhood, his study in New York, the era of promotion of fascism in Germany, the beginning of the Second World War and Bonhoeffer. . There is also a variety of historical inaccuracies and mistakes or brazen, deliberate changes. So it is true that Bonhoeffer studied in Manhattan and closed friendship with an African -American fellow student named Frank Fisher (David Jonsson), who took him to his Baptist Church. Perhaps he also brought him closer to jazz music, that would be quite possible. If Bonhoeffer, as to see here, had stood on stage with someone like Louis Armstrong (John Akanmu) in a “Cotton Club”-like night club and made music, that would have been transmitted safely.
It is not up to him: Jonas Dassler really gives everything in the role of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
There are also various other, in terms of sudden examples of Komarnicki's addiction: Bonhoeffer is simply made a member of the group of military power officers around Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff (Felix von Bredow), who plans an assassination attempt on Hitler and also performs a hair. In reality, however, there is no evidence or signs that the men have ever talked about such an action. Not even the death scene corresponds to the facts – the date is wrong, the place is wrong and the circumstances too. The real Bonhoeffer was completely naked on April 9, 1945 in the Flossenbürg concentration camp with five other men. In the film it is April 8th. In addition, he dies here alone, fully dressed and in front of an abandoned village school in the middle of nowhere …
Sure, historical facts are almost routinely changed, twisted or decorated in many films in order to be able to tell stories more effectively. This is shown, for example, again and again with his historical strips inserted between the sci-fi and disaster spectacles. With “The Patriot” and “10,000 BC”, the renowned British daily newspaper The Times recorded two of the work of the Stuttgart's work in their “top 10 of the historically inaccurate films ever”. The difference is, however, that Emmerich does not sell us his works as a serious biopics, but as what they should be: more or less brainless blockbusters for action fans who are in the mood for as much rabatz as possible.
… and then it's not even particularly entertaining
But not even as a pulp conversation, the “Bonhoeffer”, which is at least visually appealing and technically adequate. Because for a thriller that comes closest to the whole thing despite his thickly applied pathos, Komarnicki's staging of the tension moments is far too chunky, bumpy and cumbersome. The score (Gabriel Ferreira and Antonio Pinto) dominated by monotonous mollak cords is uncomfortably intrusive and in between is an attempt to press the tear glands several times to push the protagonists from the youth of the protagonist. Instead of touching emotionally, these moments are more likely to stimulate eye rollers because they look so clamped and are cheap to symbolism.
Conclusion: The real fate of Dietrich Bonhoeffer was immensely tragic. Its integrity in view of the opposition, which was built in front of him at the time-both on the part of the Nazi state and within the church-is unchanged and inspiring. However, this film does not even do justice to the man or his words, his deeds or his legacy. “Bonhoeffer” burns his prominent cast with a weak staging, brazen history distortation and a plumper sensational skin.