Monday, March 16, 2009

Bonhoeffer: Man of Grace

Bonhoeffer: Man of Grace

My wife and I watched this last night. If you don't know who Dietrich Bonhoeffer is--well, you should. He was a prominent Protestant theologian who was executed by the Nazis a few weeks before the end of the war for his involvement with the von Stauffenberg plot against Hitler.

This is an important story--but I confess that this film left much to be desired. First of all, it was a bit choppy--seeming to jump from scene to scene with insufficient explanation.

Secondly, nearly every actor in it is German, speaking English--and some of them, I fear, didn't do a great job because they were acting in a language not their own. The temptation to use an entirely German cast was strong, but I think the production suffered for it.

Third, the script left far too much unexplained. I didn't have a problem with it, because I have read extensively about the various plots against Hitler. I knew, for example, that Admiral Canaris, who head the Naval Intelligence Service, provided documents for a number of Jews that let them leave Germany with papers that claimed that they were German spies. (The irony!) But if you don't know a good bit about the internal opposition to Hitler within the military and intelligence services, there will be much that will be mystifying.

Still, it is an inspiring story, one that survives even the weaknesses of this production. It is also an important and sobering lesson for anyone who thinks that they may need to take action against a totalitarian government: be prepared to die, because decency lacks survival value against monsters.

The other lesson is that you can't spend too much winning the battle against monsters through the electoral process. If it comes to warfare, the costs will be far higher than any amount of money or time.

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