Beginning Now: Contemporary Experience of Creation and Fall Book

I actually watched the movie Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace but I did use this book as a reference. This will probably be the most scholarly book review I will ever do so I am including it on here.

​Crafton
 
 
 
 
 
Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace:
A Reflection of a Historical Work
 
 
 
 
Lauren Crafton
 
 
 
 
History 495
Professor Thomas
2 February 2004
 
 
 
 
“Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace” is a made-for-TV movie that focuses on the last sixteen years of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life.  The movie portrays his struggle with morality and ethics during a time when the government had none.  It begins with Bonhoeffer in Chicago debating whether he should go back to Germany.  He decides to go back or he would be a hypocrite in all that he believes.  This seems to be a constant theme throughout the movie.  He must reevaluate what he believes is moral in the midst of constant immorality.
The story line then takes Bonhoeffer to Germany where he quickly becomes involved with an anti-Nazi effort to take out Hitler.  He debates whether it is worse to kill and stop evil than to allow evil to continue terrorizing an entire nation.  In the process he becomes deeply incriminated by documents that his group tries to use to prove Hitler’s wrong-doings.  
Manfred Roeder, Bonhoeffer’s archenemy, imprisons Bonhoeffer and tries to find incriminating information on Bonhoeffer.  During his time in prison, Maria von Wedemeyer, his fiancée visits him and brings him cryptic messages.  While he is there, he consoles his prison-mates and writes important letters on ethics.  Later actual incriminating information was found in the Abwehr, German Military Intelligence, archives.  He was transported to Flossenberg to be hanged.  
The last scene may be the most important in conveying who Dietrich Bonhoeffer actually was.  He is portrayed in a Christ-like manner in his last few moments.  He is ordered to strip down and walk to the gallows.  At this point his is serene and shivering but only because he is cold, not because he is afraid.  As he reaches the gallows, he says a quiet prayer asking for peace for God’s servants.  Then he calmly and humbly allows himself to be hanged.
Eric Till, the co-writer and director of the film, had several reasons for doing a made for TV film about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  When asked what he set out to accomplish with Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace, he said,
         To bring to the public a story of someone who shows us moral action in a period of great
         evil. I have great admiration for that. I had often been fascinated by Bonhoeffer, a man
         who, while having of course lectured and written a book about ethics, was confronted by a
         situation which just threw that right out the window and how he had to deal with it. I
         wanted to do a film showing the dilemma that confronts a righteous man when he's dealing
         with people who have no scruples.
Till was intrigued by a man who struggled so much with ethical and moral questions.  He wanted to capture the essence of that in his made-for-TV movie.  He strays from the actual historical settings of what took place in order to capture the heart of what was going on inside Bonhoeffer as well as the external events he experienced.  In a review by Elesha Coffman, she quotes Till as saying, “You can get bogged down by the truth of it all,” Till says. “At the same time, one is most anxious not to in any way distort the essence of the real story itself.”  He shows the essence of the real events that took place by not using the traditional location of the events.
Most reviews on the movie praise its excellent representation of the man Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his internal conflict with morality.  A few critics complain about the movie’s lack of drama compared to other Bonhoeffer films; however, most critics enjoy Ulrich Tukur’s portrayal of an externally calm and patient man.  In a review by The Record, they state, “By not presenting him as a standard hero, the film makes Bonhoeffer's life even more dramatic; for it shows a rather 'ordinary' man living in difficult times whose faith leads him to do extraordinary things.”  They appreciate the humanness of Bonhoeffer as opposed to another glorified superhero.
Raymond A. Schroth of the National Catholic Reporter critiques a line in the movie delivered by an elderly escaping Jew, who is questioning using Nazi help to escape.  “But she warns him, ‘Don't win the war to lose your soul.’ It's a strange moment, and we don't expect a Jew to paraphrase Jesus to a Lutheran. But it's the only minute in the film's 85 minutes to suggest that Bonhoeffer's ethical system might have some holes in it.”  Schroth is appreciative that the movie at least portrays at least one question on the veracity of Dietrich’s ethics.
Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace was critiqued by a wide variety including a Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Ginsberg.  In her response to the movie, she says, “Most people, like me, have been very lucky. We have not had our morals tested the way he did. And it's a question we ask ourselves: We'd like to be like Bonhoeffer, but could we be?”  If a Supreme Court Justice, who deals with rulings on laws and morals everyday, is concerned about her own testing on morals, then a movie about Bonhoeffer is an extremely important example of how one man passed his own test.
The final critique which most reviewers shared was from the Robert-Forster Movie Reviews.  This review is based on the portrayal of Dietrich’s young fiancé.
         There are also a few unfortunate liberties taken with the story--liberties that do not make
         the film more understandable but less--the most perplexing of which is the decision to
         make Bonhoeffer's teenage fiancée seem quite ditzy. This makes it hard to imagine what
         Bonhoeffer saw in her, other than youth, beauty, and availability, and, I thought, gave their
         relationship an almost creepy quality. From what I've been able to find in reading about
         them, she was actually quite intelligent.
The review is highly critical of the depiction of Bonhoeffer’s fiancée.  The change in her character makes the movie confusing and somewhat unethical for Dietrich.  It places an unusual romantic twist on something that does not really exist.  Most reviews praise the humble portrayal of Bonhoeffer, while expressing their disapproval for the liberties taken which are not necessary to tell the story.
​As I began watching Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace I quickly became captivated by Ulrich Tukur’s portrayal of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He was shown as a quiet but thoughtful man.   I was intrigued by his peacefulness and the aura that surrounded him.  As Hitler may have been captivating in his powerful speeches, so Bonhoeffer was captivating in his humble sermons.  I was fascinated by the ethical debates he had within himself.  I found myself wondering which lesser of two evils I would pick.
​When one of his ethics in question was presented in the movie, it never seemed as if he believed in what he had written.  The actor seemed hesitant to agree with what had been said from his own books.  He may have been portraying Bonhoeffer’s uncertainty or just allowing for some more dramatic moments in an otherwise boring recitation of his views.
The portrayal of Bonhoeffer’s fiancée was the main drawback in the movie.  It led me to both question Bonhoeffer’s true character and wonder if Hollywood had placed its usual romantic spin on a story line without a complicated relationship.  His fiancée seemed too young and ignorant for Bonhoeffer to be honorably pursuing her at his age.
​The final scene was the most captivating and worth watching the entire movie.  Bonhoeffer is shown in the most humiliating and frightening environment and yet remains both peacefully and courageous.  He strips down and walks benevolently towards his certain death.  In this image, it is easy to see the parallel to Christ’s death.  In this scene, Bonhoeffer’s conveys his entire life with simple and humble actions as a reflection of what he thought Christ would also do.
​The actual Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on February 4th, 1906 and died April 9th, 1945.  In between these two dates, he was involved with many things and challenged the authority that ruled over him.  
Sept. 4 1940 forbidden to speak in public.
Jan. 17 1943 engagement to Maria
13 and 15 March 1943 attempted assassinations on Hitler
5 April 1943 house search and arrest; also Hans von Dohnanyi and Muller arrested with their wives
1944 January chief interrogator Roeder dismissed
22 Sept 1944 Gestapo commissar Sonderegger discovers files in the Abwehr binker in Zossen
Oct. 1944 escape plan, but abandoned for fear of others’ arrest
8 Oct. 1944 taken to Gestapo prison at Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse
9 April 1945 executed with 5 other men (Bethge).
“Dietrich Bonhoeffer...was a German Lutheran theologian and preacher who worked for the ecumene and strongly opposed the anti-semitic policies of Nazi Germany.
He returned to Germany in 1931, where he lectured on theology in Berlin and wrote several books. A strong opponent of fascism, he fled to London when Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933.  He returned after Martin Niemoller and Karl Barth formed the anti-Nazi Confessing Church, only to have his seminary closed down at the outbreak of World War II. The Gestapo also banned him from preaching. During this time, Bonhoffer worked closely with numerous opponents of Hitler”.

 
 
Bonhoeffer's active opposition to National Socialism in the thirties continued to escalate until his recruitment into the resistance in 1940. The core of the conspiracy to assassinate Adolph Hitler and overthrow the Third Reich was an elite group within the Abwehr (German Military Intelligence), which included, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Head of Military Intelligence, General Hans Oster (who recruited Bonhoeffer), and Hans von Dohnanyi, who was married to Bonhoeffer's sister, Christine.

 
A constant theme echoes throughout: ‘Don't get tired and depressed, my dearest Dietrich, it won't be much longer now.’
One of the most refreshing dimensions of this book is the marvelous picture it paints of Maria, a personality quite distinct and in many ways contradictory to Bonhoeffer's. She took great interest in the minutiae of bourgeois trivialities—"I hate sideboards, and really decent cupboards arc quite unobtainable"—while church missionary meetings bored her to tears. For that matter, she had little patience for theology: "Theology strikes me as an incomprehensible discipline. … I always get the feeling that it's seeking an intellectual explanation for what is quite simply a question of faith." (She adds at the end of that letter: "you mustn't think I disapprove of your work.") One is tempted to wonder how the champion of single-minded obedience could have fallen for a woman whose priorities are so different from his own.
After his death, Maria moved to the United States, where she carved out a successful career in mathematics and computer technology. She also married and divorced, twice. One wonders what would have become of her marriage to Bonhoeffer.
 
 
“Now Maria von Wedemeyer, unfamiliar with the background of the political conspiracy and, at least at the beginning, with no knowledge of all the personal connections to government departments and Berlin acquaintances, had to leave plans and other considerations up to her in-laws and their friends, whom she hardly knew” (Bethge).
“We know practically nothing about each other, have no common experiences yet, even for these months we are going through separately.  Maria thinks I am a model of virtue, an exemplary Christian and, to satisfy her, I have to write letters like an early martyr, and her image of me becomes more and more false…And yet she goes through everything with a marvelous naturalness” (Bethge).
 
 
 
 
Bibliography
Bethge, Eberhard. Dietrich Bonhoeffer:  a Biography. Fortress Press, Minneapolis 2000.
Bruce, David. Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace. HollywoodJesus.com, 2004,
    (7 February 2004).
Coffman, Elesha. “Christian History Corner: Agent of Grace” Christianity Today 9 June
    (8 February 2004).
Ginsberg, Ruth. “Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace” Oregon Public Broadcasting, Aid Association for
    Lutherans, and PBS Online, 2000
    (7 February 2004).
Huff, Douglas. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)” The Internet Encyclopedia, 2004.
     (7 February 2004.)
The Record, Hackensack, NJ “Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace” Oregon Public Broadcasting, Aid
    Association for  Lutherans, and PBS Online, 2000     /film/reviews.html> (7 February 2004).
Robert-Forster. “Bonhoeffer:Agent of Grace” Robert-Forster Movie Reviews
    <
    Forster_3.html" -
    Forster_3.html> (7 February 2004).
Schroth, Raymond A. “A theologian in Nazi Germany `AGENT OF GRACE'.(Review)
    (television program review)” National Catholic Reporter, 16 June 2000
    (7
    February 2004).
Zoba, Wendy Murray. “C.T. Classic: Bonhoeffer in Love” “Christianity Today” October, 23 1995. 2001