‘Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.’ Review: Angel Studios’ Biopic of an Anti-Nazi WWII Hero Seems Unsettlingly Timely

variety.com:

Joe Leydon Film Critic If it had been released just two years ago, “Bonhoeffer” might have come across as simply the latest in a long line of respectable but predictable period dramas about brave Germans who dared to stand up to the Nazi regime.

Today, however, the movie feels more like an uncomfortably timely cautionary tale with unsettling echoes of current events. Not just because it reminds us that, in the late 1930s, Hitler’s sympathizers distributed a Nazified version of the Bible that depicted Jesus as a pure-bred Aryan — and demanded loyalty to Der Fuhrer in one of two extra commandments added to the original text. (Sales were huge.) Written and directed by Todd Komarnicki, a filmmaker arguably known best as the scripter for “Sully” from Clint Eastwood (who gets a special thanks shout-out in the closing credits hwew), “Bonhoeffer” illustrates the relative ease with which Hitler gained the acceptance and eventual fealty of the German people during the post-WWI era, by playing on feelings of resentment, distrust, and wounded national pride. “Every bad thing that ever happened in Germany landed on the doorstep of the Jews and the Communists,” one character notes. “And there were enough people begging for bread to believe it.” To be sure, not every German bought the propaganda. “But Hitler only needed to fool the people who came out to vote.” And as someone else claims: “God sent Germany a prophet.

And more than that, a true savior.” It’s a line that would have had impact on audiences at just about any point in time. But it sounds so much like something that might be said, or has already been said, by contemporary true believers in a power-hungry leader; the effect is borderline devastating.