Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. (2024) Movie Script
1
[musical swirl]
[music & hammer pounding]
[wing flaps]
[music & thunder]
[somber music]
YOUNG DIETRICH: You
never catch me, Walter!
No one will.
I'm so fast, I'm invisible.
WALTER: You may be faster than
a cheetah, little brother,
but I can see you plain as day.
And I will eat you for dinner.
You only think you can see
me. That's part of the spell.
Oh...
I told Walter I was invisible,
but I don't think
he believes me.
Yeah. He's right.
I mean, I can see
you standing here
with a grass stain on
your new lederhosen.
Just hurry. Mother.
I need another spell.
Lucky enough for you,
strawberries can make a
boy disappear completely.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Ha!
Special powers...
- From a strawberry?
- Invisibility.
Again?
- This one really works.
- Tell him, Mother.
Yeah. It takes a
minute to work.
Yeah, it takes a minute.
Oh.
Hi, Papa.
Hello, Dietrich.
Walter?
Yes.
Haven't given up yet.
Never.
Exactly.
You will never catch that boy.
You can't hide forever.
Ha!
Gotcha!
Dietrich!
[door slams shut]
[footsteps]
Shh!
[floor creaks]
Hi, Walter.
[running footsteps]
[man yells angrily in German]
GESTAPO: No talking.
[jet flies above]
GESTAPO: There
was a bridge here.
I swear to you, sir.
Bridges don't like bombs.
This means another 50 miles
just to find a way across.
Why are we stopping
in the middle of hell?
They mean to throw
us over the ravine.
No, no. That's not it.
There used to be a bridge here.
They are taking us
somewhere. Awaiting orders.
As long as we're on this bus.
We are safe.
Safe?
What is safe?
[explosion in the distance]
[more jets flying above]
[explosions]
[jets flying and explosions]
We need to move, now.
[man yells angrily in German]
KNOBLAUCH: Get us north.
[somber music]
PAULA: It's not
goodbye, Walter.
You have everything
in your suitcase?
Yes, Mother.
Including the extra toothbrushes
you hid in my socks.
So now I have three.
You can give one to a soldier
whose mother is not so...
attentive.
KARL: It's the right
thing at the right time.
And you will come home a hero
to a country that will
always be grateful.
Well, I think things might
actually be quiet on the front.
Christel, don't be sad.
Susanne.
Klaus.
Sabine.
Dietrich.
You better stock
up on strawberries,
little brother,
because I will be home before
you know where to hide.
[engine starts]
YOUNG DIETRICH: Walter!
Walter! Stay!
Walter!
[music intensifies]
[somber music]
[thunder]
[soft piano music]
That is Walter's favorite song.
Don't stop. Sweetheart.
Walter loved that song.
Why did you stop?
I'll never play it again.
Of course you will.
No one listened
to Walter's song.
No one cared.
Everyone cares.
They're just swept up in
their thoughts of Walter.
I don't know what to do, Mother.
I know.
Walter asked me,
If he didn't come
home from the war...
he said, Tell little brother
that I underlined
all the good parts.
[emotional music]
Ahh.
Walter needed a
strawberry, Mama.
Yes. Yes, he did, my love.
[ominous music]
[dogs bark]
[prison cells open]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
PROFESSOR FOSDICK: Nearly
100 years. A century...
of excellence and learning
in the service of Unitas,
Veritas.
Caritas. 100 years.
This lecture has been going
on about one hundred years.
PROFESSOR FOSDICK: In 1836,
the founders of Union were
deeply impressed by the
demands of the world
upon the church
and forged a new vision
for theological education
right here in New York City.
Mr. Bonhoeffer.
I'm certain that the
German theologians
that sent their star
pupil from Berlin
would not want him
squandering his time
on small jokes and idle chatter.
Forgive me, professor.
Yeah.
DIETRICH: Inflicting
that level of boredom
should absolutely
get a man fired.
FISHER: If bad lectures
got a man fired at Union,
this seminary would have
been empty a long time ago.
I've been here three weeks,
and I feel like I could
teach most of these classes.
That's what happens when you
study the words so closely.
You forget there's
a god behind them.
Then what brought you here
all the way from Alabama?
I didn't come for Union but
the city in which it resides.
New. York. City.
You know, D, not every
church has a steeple.
[background conversation
& traffic]
MAN IN QUEUE: What do you say?
DOORMAN: Good to
see you, Frank.
[women speaking in background]
[jazz music starts]
FISHER: Hey.
Good to see you.
Yo. I'll have the same
one. On the spritz.
Hey, baby.
AVA: Frank Fisher.
FISHER: Ava. I love your dress.
AVA: Have I heard
that line before?
[trumpet soloist begins]
What is this?
This is jazz.
I've played piano
since I was a child,
but I feel like until now
I've never heard music.
ARMSTRONG: If you
can play, come on up.
Let's see what you got.
[soft piano music]
[gospel choir begins]
Leave it there.
If you have all your faith
and the Lord
is always here.
And you have to get along
with meager fare.
Just remember,
in His word,
How He feeds
the little bird.
Take your burden
to the Lord,
leave it there.
And that's why Pinocchio...
is the greatest fictional
character ever created.
- Anna: Excuse me, Mr. B.
- Yes.
Mama said this is supposed
to be Sunday school.
- Oh, this is Sunday school.
- Just more school on Sunday.
And every day is a day to learn.
Veronica: I already know
what that story means.
Don't lie
or your nose will grow like
a snake made out of wood.
HENRY: Not a snake
made out of wood.
The lesson is, if you
want to be a real boy,
it's a lot harder
than being a puppet.
Henry's exactly right.
It's difficult to be a real boy.
To tell the truth.
To love.
To have compassion for others.
That's what makes
you fully human.
But if you live by love,
then you don't want to lie.
You want to be real.
And your strings...
[makes popping sound]
get cut.
And you don't get a snake made
out of wood as a nose either.
Yes, that's a side benefit.
[children laugh]
We sneaking out early to
go hear the choir again?
Call your souls away.
If you're fighting,
striving for the right,
you shall wear
a golden crown.
- I shall wear a crown.
I shall wear a crown.
- When the trumpet sounds
- When the trumpet sounds
- Oh Lord
When the trumpet sounds
I shall wear a crown,
I shall wear a crown
I shall wear a
robe and crown.
- Let the church say amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
DIETRICH: Three months
I've been coming,
and I still can't believe
church can be like this.
REV POWELL: I take it
that you don't have
churches like us in Berlin?
Oh, not in Berlin or in
Paris or in all of Europe.
Well, God asked us
to attend a party.
To partake in fellowship.
To love.
And sometimes love can be loud.
Especially here in Harlem.
So where were you when
you first met the Lord?
Met?
I don't understand.
I'll tell you where I was.
I was playing craps in the alley
in Cabin Creek, West Virginia.
Losing money like I
could print it at home.
By midnight I was down a hundred
and only my fast feet
were gonna save me from
the back end of a jail.
So I ran,
but I found myself not
more than thirty yards
from a Baptist revival tent.
And you know who was
waiting for me inside?
The Lord.
He was in every lit-up
face of the gospel singers.
He was in the salty words
of that traveling preacher.
He was in the sweet loving hands
of that grandmother
that led me to my seat.
But he was also in
the broken souls
of every liar, cheat and sinner
in that blessed tent.
Because Jesus...
was with His people.
Just like He promised.
And, Dietrich, he
filled that place,
so as to tear at the
very seams of that tent.
And he filled me up to
overflowin' ever since.
I want that.
Well, it's simple, son.
Taste.
And see that the Lord is good.
I know He's good.
REV POWELL: But do
you know how good?
A man can waste a
whole lifetime...
saying God is good
and never asking Him to show
the fullness of His glory.
- Hallelujah.
- Hallelujah!
Whoa.
But hallelujah ain't
gonna do all the work now.
And there is so much
more work to be done.
- Amen.
- That's right.
REV POWELL: Did you
see that black flag
hanging from the building?
Yes.
FISHER: That's for Thomas
Shipp, innocent man,
lynched three days ago
in Marion, Indiana.
We may be free in our souls,
but there's another
freedom that we seek.
A God-given freedom
that man has deigned
to take away.
I am so sorry.
FISHER: We don't need
you to be sorry, D.
We need you to tell the world.
- Yeah, son.
- You think we invited you
just to show you the
good places to eat?
Ha ha!
We should take him
to South Carolina,
see if he still wants
to hang out with us.
How about south of 110th Street?
Dietrich don't know
he in Negro heaven.
REV POWELL: That's
a brilliant idea.
Frank, why don't you
take him on a road trip?
How far you think we should go?
REV POWELL: I think to
be safe, let's say DC.
He can see Lincoln statue
and the white man's statutes.
See which one speaks louder.
- Got you again.
- Olly olly oxen free.
Goose Goslin with the goner.
Our friendship is not as...
alien as you predicted.
We haven't asked
for anything yet.
Go book a room, pay for
it, come get me after.
- Good evening.
- A room. Just for a night.
That'll be $2.
Two dollars, huh.
Seems fair.
Let's go see how fair.
No rooms to let.
- Good night.
- Kind sir.
My friend just booked a room.
He paid a good two dollars.
He invited me here.
Whoa, whoa, sir.
Who in hell...
would wanna be friends
with a tar baby like you?
DIETRICH: He's my
friend. I have a key.
[intense musical buildup]
Sir, by the cross on the wall,
I can see that you're
my brother under Christ.
As my friend Frank here is too.
Surely our love of
the Lord unites us.
I paid for this room,
and Frank and I,
we are going to stay in this...
How dare...
you animals interrupt
my quiet evening
with your violence.
The next one comes from
the other end of this gun.
Hey, hey, slow down, man.
Dietrich. Where you rushing to?
I should have torn that
cross off his wall.
Oh, now, now. Dietrich...
How many cheeks
you have to turn?
Hold on, now. Dietrich!
How many maniacs do I
have to save you from?
There's always an inn at
the end of the search.
- Always. That much I know.
- Dietrich. Listen to me.
Sometimes there's just a manger.
DIETRICH: I'm so embarrassed.
I put you in danger.
No more danger than
I face any day.
How could I think it would work,
simply because I
wanted it to work?
It's alright, D. It's alright.
I could not raise a hand
against another man.
This kind of hate...
takes something
stronger than a punch.
Sometimes a punch makes
some necessary noise.
And sometimes...
it's just as useless as
spitting in the wind.
We're so fortunate not having
anything like this in Germany.
My brother,
hate comes in every color.
Your eyes just haven't
been opened yet.
Our hosts must have
a special distaste
for you and me, Herr Bonhoeffer.
I don't know you.
Doctor Sigmund Rascher,
once the Fhrer's
championed scientist.
And you are Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
the pastor who forgot
to love his enemy.
Yeah. I know why I'm here.
But you, you...
were his golden child.
DR RASCHER: The
Fhrer thanked me
for studying the
Juden's final moments.
To make the choice
to stop a heart.
That is my greatest
accomplishment.
For what is a life...
if we do not
comprehend its ending?
Alas, there was no cure
for my Fhrer's jealousy.
Jealousy.
I made the fatal mistake
of not pretending that
he was smarter than I.
So for all my work,
I get a trap door
and a piece of rope.
[intense music]
That's what we all get.
I should be fitted
for a crown...
one day.
Our season may have ended,
but it will come again.
Your season
ended long ago.
'The light came into the world,
and the darkness did
not overcome it.'
Look around you, my friend.
How much light do you see?
Oh, I've just found joy
I'm as happy as a baby boy
With another brand new
choo-choo toy
when I'm with my
sweet Lorraine.
A pair of eyes
That are bluer than
the summer skies
When you see them,
you'll realize
why I love my
sweet Lorraine.
Oh, I'm so happy
When it's raining
I don't miss the sun
For it's in my
sweetie's smile
Just to think that
I'm the lucky one
Who will lead her
down the aisle
Oh, each night I pray
That nobody takes
her heart away
I can't wait until
that happy day
When I marry sweet Lorraine
It's all right to clap now.
That music is...
It's called jazz.
And it reinvents your
ears with every note.
I'm glad you're home, brother.
Germany was emptier without you.
Can you tell us one more
thing before I go up?
One thing we couldn't
imagine about America.
Alright. It's this.
In the German church,
I was headed into the
dead end of religion.
[radio plays news]
Father, did you hear me?
Yes.
DIETRICH: I don't want to
pursue theology any longer.
KARL: Thank God.
Such a fine mind was always
too good for the church.
DIETRICH: In Harlem, I
finally saw real faith,
instead of dead religion.
And now I plan on teaching the
German church all about it.
Wait. The church?
But you just said you
were done with religion.
I am. As should be the church.
KARL: I like that, son.
You're still cocky.
Trying to teach the church?
They sure could use some
damn instructions at the moment.
Karl.
HANS: The Nazis rise to power
has everyone a little
anxious, Dietrich.
The Nazis?
They only got, what was it,
eighteen percent in '30?
And that was a mirage.
Well, this year's
mirage will double that.
I don't believe it.
KARL: That's because
you were away
while Hitler used
the Versailles Treaty
like his personal weapon.
Every bad thing that
ever happened in Germany
landed on the doorsteps of
the Jews and the communists,
and there were
enough working people
begging for bread to believe it.
There's no chance that
this loudmouth from Austria
will have fooled
enough Germans by then.
But Hitler only has
to fool the Germans
who come out to vote.
But he's still only one man.
If he does somehow
manage to sneak in,
we'll vote him out next time.
Just like we did with
Ebert, and Simons.
See? Your mother
still believes in
the wisdom of people.
Unfortunately, that's
how tyrants win.
So now it's my fault that Hitler
will become chancellor?
KARL: Things have
changed, Paula.
The country has grown angrier,
and people are falling prey
to this nationalism
and paranoia.
HANS: And the Nazis
feed off that.
They've been systematic,
fighting for every
local election,
each tiny hamlet,
prying the country
from our hands
while few were even watching.
And the church, no
doubt, bears some blame.
KARL: Oh, yeah.
Hitler and his new Bishop Mller
now call it the Reichskirche.
The Church of the Third Reich.
One man cannot change the
name of the whole church.
KARL: He already has, Dietrich.
HANS: I've heard via my
office that the Nazis plan
to identify and
dispose of people
with mental disabilities.
Father, that can't be true.
DIETRICH: You speak
in nightmares.
Well, surely rumor and
rage cannot win the day.
Unless the day is already lost.
[footsteps]
SABINE: Shouldn't smoke in bed.
DIETRICH: When we were little,
I used to steal
father's cigarettes
and pretend to
smoke them up here.
Me too.
Never got past one puff.
I guess we've graduated.
Remember, we would lie here
staring at the ceiling,
call out to Walter in heaven.
Yeah.
Every night for years.
Eternity. Eternity. Eternity.
Eternity.
Like a song. An invitation.
- Eternity. Eternity.
- Eternity.
It never worked.
It worked for me once.
You never told me.
I didn't want to
make you feel bad.
He was wearing his uniform.
He was walking away
towards an umbrella.
On a beach.
He took off his hat.
And left it in the sand.
And he walked on.
Towards the sea.
Must be true what
they say about twins.
Then you're as afraid as I am.
I am.
But I don't know why.
Something's coming.
Something unstoppable.
Nothing is unstoppable.
SABINE: Eternity.
Eternity. Eternity.
Eternity.
SABINE: Eternity.
Eternity. Eternity.
Eternity.
Eternity.
Eternity.
[intense music]
Eternity... eternity.
Walter, where are you?
Sabine, I can't do this alone.
MLLER: Finally, my
friends, we know who we are.
How long have we
waited for this moment
when we can finally hear
Germany's heart beat again?
At last we have read the writing
on the walls of
this country's soul,
and the words are:
Chancellor Adolf Hitler!
God sent Germany a prophet.
And more than that.
A true Savior!
To speak of any Savior but
Christ from the pulpit...
blasphemy.
Dietrich, everything new
needs a moment to settle.
We're in God's house
and the bishop is
celebrating a man.
I don't need time
to let it settle.
MLLER: So that we can
solve the great challenges
facing our people.
To combine our shared power
so that we can
achieve this together.
Alright.
Alright, you don't
support Hitler.
Many don't.
But that doesn't mean that
you can make a distraction...
DIETRICH: They are
building an idol to Hitler
inside those walls in real time.
NIEMLLER: You're
exaggerating, Dietrich.
You've been away quite a while,
while this man has
been building...
building what?
An army of clergy, blinded by...
I don't even know what.
This man is without charm,
without character or charisma.
He has captured the nation's
imagination, Dietrich.
And our churches are fuller
than have been in years.
But it's not about how many,
Bishop, it's about who.
Don't you realize handing
a man this kind of crown
will come with a terrible price?
I can't agree.
Both for us...
and those he so aggressively
targeting, the Jews.
Yeah. Surely Herr
Hitler will resolve
the Jewish question too.
Why must there even
be a Jewish question?
This is our national cathedral.
Dietrich,
it has long been our policy
that politics and the
church should not intersect.
[audience claps in background]
Listen to that applause.
They already have.
What if I speak to
Chancellor Hitler?
We both fought in the Great War.
He might listen.
Then tell him the church
does not belong to him
or any man.
It belongs to the living God.
Not everything needs to
be a fight, Dietrich.
Your heart is moving
faster than your mind.
Yes, speed matters.
If no one warns
the German people,
they might think
the entire clergy
agrees with Bishop Mller
and his sycophants.
I have the pulpit at Kaiser
Wilhelm in two weeks.
At Jacobi's invitation.
In fact, that might be
the perfect opportunity
to speak up against...
Now, listen closely,
young friend.
Everyone will be
paying attention.
Including this bishop that
still remains your superior.
I advise you recall
the words of the English
writer William Shakespeare.
Discretion is the
better part of valor.
Yeah, I prefer the words
of a Jewish writer, Paul.
'God has not given
us a spirit of fear.'
If you don't take
your fear from God,
perhaps you should take
it from your bishop.
[church bells ring]
KARL: I never understood kites.
All this effort and
they take you nowhere.
DIETRICH: I think the idea
is they get you to look up.
KARL: Oh. My optimistic son.
Everything always
pointing to the sky.
You realize I come
for these walks
to take a break from giving
out advice, don't you?
- I'm sorry.
- I can figure it out myself.
I'm sure you already have.
I guess I'm just seeking
permission to be brave.
You don't need anyone's
permission, son.
You already are.
Thank you.
KARL: Don't thank
me until after.
DIETRICH: After?
KARL: After whatever is
requiring all this courage
in the first place.
[ominous music]
They won't eat you, Dietrich.
At least not until
after the sermon.
[dramatic music]
Woe to you, hypocrites,
You white-washed tombs,
outwardly beautiful,
inwardly full of
dead man's bones.
You serpents, you vipers.
How can you escape damnation?
These violent words
are not my own.
They come from the
mouth of our Lord.
And His harshest words
were not for sinners
but always reserved
for the religious.
Because there has never
been anyone in history
who hated religion
more than Jesus Christ.
He never wanted our religion.
All he ever wanted...
was us.
Our full selves.
But we, the German church,
are on the verge of giving
ourselves to another.
Of choosing full pews
over full hearts.
The church should be
a place of refuge,
a place of sanctuary,
not a place of power.
The German church must
stand on God's word alone.
Not any man's word,
and especially not
a Fhrer's word.
[dramatic music intensifies]
DIETRICH: Turn with
me in scripture
to Matthew chapter five.
It's been a long time
since I've heard truth
preached from their pulpit.
Thank you.
I wish you were
preaching every Sunday.
Might actually get my
Otto back to church.
What a privilege
to be with you all.
- Oh, yes, it was a privilege.
- One squandered.
But now you have people's
attention, Dietrich.
Perhaps that's everything
you've ever wanted.
I'm sorry if...
The truth doesn't
apologize for being true.
The truth also separates
marrow from bone.
You are on the other side of
those words now, Dietrich.
Beware,
you're not standing on the
same ground you were yesterday.
I'm so proud.
Just brilliant, brother.
- Thank you.
- Brilliant.
Mother. Father.
Courage needed, Son.
Courage shown.
You were wonderful, son.
But it looked like you were
painting a target on your chest
with every single sentence.
Better a target than a swastika.
Why does there have
to be a target?
There were not so many
in the church today.
A message like that,
it's not the size of the crowd
but who's been paying attention.
[crowd cheers]
For the members of the church
under Hitler, the Reichskirche,
demand the immediate cessation
of the publishing
and dissemination
of the Jewish Bible in Germany.
- Per order by the Fhrer!
- Mein Fhrer!
KRAUSE: The Christ of the new
German Bible will be Aryan,
with no Jewish roots.
No Jewish weakness.
The church must clear away
all crucifixes, Bibles
and images of the saints,
and replace them
with our leader's
glorious words.
And it must be superseded by
the only unconquerable symbol,
the swastika!
[crowd cheers]
[Speaking in German]
[men argue in background]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
Matthias?
Matthias.
Matthias.
Matthias. Hey,
you don't think I know it's you
just because you're
playing dress-up?
Rudolph, enough
of this Karneval.
Boys, what is this?
Catechism is in five
minutes inside. What...
Wilhelm.
Heinrich, look at me.
This is madness!
This is not a joke to be played.
Hey, I don't need
your hands on me, sir.
- You need more than that.
- They are children!
Go back inside, pastor.
The church youth are
now the Hitler Youth,
as it should be.
Some problem here, Max?
Only that this clergyman
seems to have lost his flock.
[car door slams shut]
JACOBI: Dietrich, listen to me.
The church youth is now
costumed as the Hitler Youth.
I mean, how long until
the entire country is
painted black?
So what can we do? Because
do something we must.
It's not what we can do.
It's what you can do.
Sit down, Herr Bonhoeffer.
My every move is being watched
since I gave you that
Sunday at Kaiser Wilhelm.
We need someone young
who has staked a claim
for the truth already.
No one's been interested
in speaking to me
since the last time
I opened my mouth.
You may not know
it, but your sermon
not only angered the Nazis,
it also galvanized a whole
raft of seminary students
and made you friends in places
where they never
even go to church.
Good. Because more than
the church's life
is on the line.
This is a knife to the
heart of the nation.
Bravery is a rare
commodity, Dietrich.
[dramatic music]
Especially when it's
needed the most.
Can you rally more than
your words to this cause?
I'm ready for anything, sir.
I'm about to ask you to
save the German church.
To save it,
we'll have to split it apart.
You will go to
England as our spy.
Bishop Bell, he's
already waiting.
JACOBI: Your job
will be simple.
Tell him the truth so
we can set it free.
DIETRICH: If the
river gets any higher,
we're going to have
a second baptism.
Well, it's the
first day in a month
it hasn't rained in West Sussex.
You keep an eye out for Noah.
Thank you for meeting with me.
I know I'm too young to be a
messenger for Germany's worries.
David was a teenager.
Moses was an old man.
God calls when He calls.
DIETRICH: What
good is the church
if it doesn't speak for
the victims of the state?
For those who have no voice.
The Jews.
RECTOR: The Jews?
DIETRICH: We cannot stand by
while the Jews are
being persecuted.
BISHOP 1: You
bring us a problem
of which there is no proof.
How do we know that this is
simply not Jewish propaganda?
DIETRICH: I have seen
the yellow stars,
the violence in the streets.
Hitler has carved
them out of society.
Left them stateless,
unprotected.
So look me in the eye
and call me propaganda.
I have secreted myself
here to tell you
that the true German
church has no alternative
but to break away from the
false church of the Nazis,
their Reichskirche.
We need to let the world
know what the Nazis are
doing to the Jews.
And if the church
does not speak now,
we will lose our voice
for a hundred years.
BISHOP 1: This is
a German problem,
not an international one.
Hitler took Germany
and her church
without firing a single bullet.
How many will he
have to fire at you?
BISHOP 3: But you
speak of bullets
when you should be
planning diplomacy.
BISHOP 4: The church's job is
to kindle peace, peacefully.
Oh, You mean silently.
If need be.
Our silence in the face
of evil is itself evil.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act.
[background conversation]
BISHOP BELL: I
agree with Dietrich.
Hitler is a threat
to all humanity.
The church
should be the first to
make that announcement.
Not the last.
BISHOP BELL: Now, Dietrich
is going to speak,
and the scrivener
is going to write,
and unless you have
anything to add,
I suggest we all
enter a silent period.
[suspenseful music]
We, the Confessing
Church in Germany,
reject the false doctrines
of the German Reich church.
We declare that the church
does not belong to any man and
that it is under the
authority of God alone.
WIFE: The church exists
not merely for its members,
but more vitally, for
those who are not.
PUBLICAN: God calls the church
to be the conscience
of the state
and where there are victims
to bind up their wounds.
CLEMENTINE: I do hope the frost
doesn't punish my Comices.
CHURCHILL: Listen
to this, Clemmie.
And if the state
harms and oppresses,
and for Germany,
this means the Jews,
then the church must
stand against the state,
must put a stick in the
very wheel of the state
until it stops.
CLEMENTINE: It sounds like
Mr. Bonhoeffer and his merry men
just did what England
are too afraid to do.
What is that, darling?
Declare war on Hitler.
[plane takes flight]
Over here!
MAN: Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
Who needs to know?
DIETRICH: You can't just
kidnap a German citizen
upon a German airport.
DRIVER: Turn around.
We leaked that you were
arriving via Amsterdam.
It gave us just enough time
to meet your flight
from Belfast.
MAN: Germany is no longer
safe for you, Herr Bonhoeffer.
For any of us.
And where is?
[tense music]
I didn't know
anyone in the church
still wanted to see me.
NIEMOLLER: Not
the Reichskirche.
But the Confessing Church, yes.
And I have much to confess.
I had it completely
wrong, Dietrich.
Can you...
Can you find it in your
heart to forgive me?
Bishop, of course.
Come.
NIEMOLLER: It takes
courage to face the dark.
And you faced it.
I was too busy closing my
eyes, covering my ears.
The church you tried to save
had become religion
without Christ.
But what we need is
Christ without religion.
You know, my father used to say,
When you board the wrong train,
there's no use
running down the aisle
in the opposite direction.
He's right.
But you also can just
jump off the train
and start all over again.
We have smuggled the
finest seminary students
from all over Germany here.
And we have brought
them our finest teacher.
I'm so glad it's you.
No, it's not me, Dietrich.
It's you.
You have been called
for such a time
as this, Dietrich.
Look. This is the new
Nazi Bible. Take a look.
Jesus is now an Aryan.
And the Ten Commandments
have become twelve.
DIETRICH: Honor your
Fhrer and master.
Keep the blood pure
and your honor...
This is the
definition of unholy.
Dietrich,
I am expected on my pulpit
in Dahlem every Sunday.
I can't hide.
Or they will start
looking for me
and discover all of this.
DIETRICH: I'm a
young man myself.
What could I possibly
teach these students?
Teach them your heart.
- My heart?
- Yes.
My heart is broken.
Then teach them that.
See, this is not a
spiritual escape.
This is a literal escape.
Every young man down there
had been ticketed for
the Eastern Front.
So you brought us all here
so we could be kept
in one place safe.
A prison
No, this is not a
prison, Dietrich.
This is a haven from which
to launch our attack.
EBERHARD: Pastor Bonhoeffer.
My name is Eberhard Bethge,
one of the 23 students
chosen, excommunicated,
by the German Church
and Herr Mller.
We are honored to have
you as our teacher.
Then I think it's time
for your first lesson.
Ready?
[joyful music]
Don't touch the ball. Come on.
Wake up!
Let's go. Come on.
Hey! Come on.
Come on.
DIETRICH: So my new friend
Eberhard just informed me
that he knows his way around
Gumpelzhaimer's Agnus Dei
and some few choice
works of Heinrich Schtz,
which to me all sounded like
some sort of punishment.
So what will you play
for us then, Dietrich?
An evening this
sweet calls for some
pure gospel music.
Gospel?
No more words.
All you have to do is listen.
[gospel music begins]
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot
DIETRICH: Coming
to carry me home.
Lord.
Carry me home now.
Lord, I'm ready.
To see Walter.
I'm ready to see you.
Take me home.
Lord.
Take me home.
[men yell in background]
PRISONER: Dietrich! Over here!
Dietrich! Over here.
DIETRICH: Check the locks.
DIETRICH: Gunther,
free the others.
DIETRICH: Check the locks.
Free the others. Come on.
PRISONER: Watch.
DIETRICH: Stay close.
Watch for the guards.
PRISONER 1: Should we escape?
The garrison in the next
village will shoot us dead.
PUNDER: This country is
too big to escape from.
PRISONER 1: So we
wait here to die?
Shh!
PUNDER: What do we do?
We wait. We pray.
We act.
[tense music]
No, no.
No no no.
[gunshot]
GESTAPO: Stop!
[somber music]
EBERHARD: Dietrich.
This was three days ago.
That's why Bishop Bell
rushed it by secret courier.
He must have known
the German papers
wouldn't be covering it.
I'm going to Berlin.
- That's madness.
- You'll be arrested immediately.
Eberhard, I can't
keep pretending that
praying and teaching is enough.
[car engine]
[dogs bark in background]
GESTAPO: Have
your papers ready.
[man yells in background]
EBERHARD: There's no other road
into Berlin from the north.
We'll make our own road.
GESTAPO: We don't have
all night. Come on!
[somber music]
NIEMOLLER: The
Gestapo is here today.
Make sure you welcome them.
Hand them a hymnal.
Or maybe they only know how
to sing their own songs now.
Indeed, our friends in
uniform are fellow worshipers,
just not of the same God.
For years they have
been saying now
that this country is infested.
And I finally agree.
But this infestation
comes from within,
and not by the Jews who
are our spiritual brothers
and to whom we owe
an unpayable debt,
but by those who
claim a higher office
than the Lord Jesus
Christ himself.
Look at me.
Have the courage to look at me.
Go tell your Fhrer that
he's not bigger than God,
And for daring to
claim His throne,
there awaits a punishment
beyond his understanding.
[audience clapping]
[dramatic music]
This is not your house!
NIEMOLLER: I know
I've been your pastor
for almost 13 years now
and my job is to
lead this flock.
But I failed.
Because when the Nazis first
came for the socialists,
I didn't speak out because
I was not a socialist.
And when they later came
for the trade unionists,
I didn't speak out
because I am not a unionist.
And then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out,
not soon enough,
because I am not a Jew.
So when they come
to knock at my door,
will there be anyone
left to speak out for me?
NEIMOLLER: It was
reckless of you to come.
But nevertheless,
I'm grateful you did.
Everything is different now.
After what they
call Kristallnacht.
I still need you outside.
I think today
this was my last sermon.
ELSE: But you finally
said it in public.
What we've been
discussing at home.
And you said it to
their wicked faces.
I thought it was
brave, and beautiful.
[cars approach]
[somber music]
It's all good.
We're just going to
say goodbye to Daddy
for a little while.
Yes.
Listen, Jan, I'm very sorry,
but I have to go away.
- You don't. Stay.
- I want you to stay.
I want to stay too.
My boy. My son.
My precious son.
Please. Papa, Papa, stay.
- Look...
- Please.
I'm going to stay, but here.
Right here.
Always.
Always.
[banging on door]
JAN: Please.
[suspenseful music]
It is me whom you seek.
Leave the rest alone.
HOBLE: We shall take and leave
whomever and whatever we like.
You already stole this country.
What else do you want?
This is not your house.
Put the pastor in the car.
- Martin.
- No! no!
No, no.
EBERHARD: Dietrich.
No.
Once you finished your
search, burn it all.
EBERHARD: No! No. no.
EBERHARD: Leave him be!
ELSE: No!
EBERHARD: Stop.
[footsteps]
PAULA: It's just the way my
mother made Sptzle-Fass.
CHRISTEL: It isn't
fair. You have to
start writing your recipes down.
Tell her, my love.
It's true.
Dietrich. What happened?
PAULA: Hey, hey.
PAULA: Dietrich.
Hey, are you alright?
Are you alright?
Hey! Hey!
Christel, help him.
PAULA: Hans, what does it say?
HANS: They're
under house arrest.
KARL: Paula, we need
more gauze, please.
They turned our
house into a prison.
They've turned the entire
country into a prison, Father.
We have word from Finkenwalde.
The seminary was destroyed.
And the students who
wouldn't acquiesce
were forced into uniforms.
Either military
or for the camps.
Dietrich will be devastated.
He's lucky to be alive.
If he hadn't gone to Berlin,
they might have executed him
in front of his
students for sport.
EBERHARD: Dietrich.
Finkenwalde is gone.
DIETRICH: Everything I thought
God called me to pursue...
burnt to ash.
Life is loss.
And building again.
Everything in the world
has been built on top
of what came before.
DIETRICH: The
disciples all scattered
after Jesus was arrested.
I never understood
why, until now.
The disciples scattered
on Friday, yes.
But by Sunday,
they were on their way
to changing the world.
DIETRICH: Hans. My father said
you had something to discuss.
I'm ready to listen.
HANS: As a mole
inside the Abwehr.
I have it on absolute authority
that the Jews have been
targeted for total extinction.
The Nazis have set up
concentration camps,
forcing them to
die from disease,
hunger and hard labor.
Dachau,
Buchenwald, Flossenbrg,
Ravensbrck.
Bishop Niemller is in
a concentration camp
just like these,
at Sachsenhausen.
The Abwehr is
military intelligence
for the defense department.
While Hitler has
created the Gestapo
to be his own plaything,
The Abwehr works
independently of the Fhrer.
The Nazis plan to imprison
or front-line every pastor
that won't bow the
knee to Hitler.
DIETRICH: Yeah, tell me
there's something we can do.
HANS: There is.
Dietrich, I need
you to understand
that your life will
not be the same
after I speak these words.
- Even if you don't join us.
- DIETRICH: Yes. Speak.
HANS: This is not like when the
Resistance met in your house
and you offered theology
instead of action.
You Christians only know how
to keep your hands clean.
I hated hearing it then, and
I hate remembering it now.
HANS: This will
take dirty hands.
That's all I have left to offer.
Gentlemen,
we have devised a plot to
assassinate the Fhrer.
EBERHARD: Hans,
you're talking to
pastors, not killers.
Dietrich? Tell him.
Here I am, Hans.
Send me.
EBERHARD: Dietrich,
you're an avowed pacifist.
And David was a shepherd
when he slew Goliath.
The will of God is
that men should defeat
their enemies by loving them.
HANS: Who wrote
that empty promise?
DIETRICH: I did.
And I was right.
Before Hitler.
Is Hitler the first evil ruler
since scripture was written?
DIETRICH: No.
But he's the first
one I can stop.
What do you require of me?
EBERHARD: Will God
forgive us if we do this?
Will He forgive us if we don't?
In order to destroy the Fhrer,
you must first
swear allegiance...
to the Fhrer.
I've spent two years
ingratiating myself
with the Abwehr.
HANS: If you want to help,
this is our last angle to play.
Otherwise, you sit
home in forced silence,
or get sent to the
front to fight for him
instead of against him.
I guess sometimes the only way
to defeat the father of lies
is to lie better than he does.
[dramatic music]
BAMLER: Do you love the
Judensau more than the Germans?
It is not a difficult question.
One loves the Jews or
one loves the Fatherland.
HANS: The Fatherland.
BAMLER: I'm more
interested in the answer
of your new recruit here
who has been parading
with Niemller
for the Confessing Church.
I'm here to confess.
I didn't see what the
rest of the country saw.
And what is that,
Herr Bonhoeffer?
That the time had come
for Germany to rise
and for the rest of
the world to bow down.
- Heil Hitler.
- Heil Hitler.
The only problem
is, Herr Bonhoeffer.
I don't believe you.
So you must do me
one little favor
in order that I don't order
your immediate execution.
Your favor is my honor.
BAMLER: Neutral Switzerland
is becoming a problem.
[Speaking in German]
And since they are a neighbor,
this is the worst
problem of all.
I need you to take seven
Juden into Switzerland
and guarantee that they
deliver one message.
The Fhrer's message.
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
Each prisoner will
tell the Swiss officials
that they've been
treated as guests
by the National Socialists.
Never felt safer,
more protected...
HANS: 'To ensure
the Swiss understand
the Germans have built
humanitarian camps
to guarantee the madness of war
shall not touch
the Jewish people
from now or going forward.'
It was so insane, I had
to memorize every line.
Words aren't words
anymore, Dietrich.
They're nooses,
bullets and knives.
My name is Hans,
and this is my
brother-in-law, Dietrich.
DIETRICH: I am a pastor.
I love the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob.
All of whom would be
in the gas chambers
if it were up to
Christians like you.
If you were speaking to many
members of my broken church,
you would be right,
but you are not.
HANS: When you cross
the border, you're free.
MOSES: Free?
What is free?
DIETRICH: What is your name?
MOSES: You animals,
you stole my name.
Crossed it out with
ink under my skin.
All that's left of my name
is a sound in my head.
Please, tell me your name.
I am Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
That's my name.
That's who I am.
Who are you?
Kiefer is my father's name.
My mother named me Moses.
It's an honor to
meet you, Moses.
HANS: We've brought
you here so you
can tell the Swiss the truth
about what is being
perpetrated by Hitler.
DIETRICH: We have church
contacts in Geneva
who will help upon your
arrival in the city.
MOSES: What if I
don't believe you?
DIETRICH: Neither would I.
But we only need you to believe
it long enough, Moses...
to see it.
HANS: By the decree
of the Fhrer,
in agreement with
President Etter.
Yes. We have been
expecting you.
These are free men, to be
welcomed in Switzerland.
That's the agreement we have.
Is it?
DIETRICH: We were
told they would be
taken by car to Geneva,
where they can wash and rest.
We are glad to
help our neighbor.
But, Jews?
Is that really the
best you can offer us?
We can offer invasion
if you prefer.
The French welcomed that
without a second debate.
DIETRICH: Hans, back of the
truck. The white box. Now.
SWISS GUARD: You Germans
think you own the world,
but you can do nothing
against a neutral country
without drawing in England,
and even the United States.
SWISS GUARD: Out.
SWISS GUARD: Seven Jews.
I guess that amounts
to 100,000 marks.
So the Swiss make money
on more than
chocolate and watches.
Seems being neutral
can be very lucrative.
Now... Switzerland
welcomes the Jews.
- Does anyone have a drink?
- We should toast this moment.
Why not?
[animal noises]
HANS: Dietrich, where
did you get the money?
Our friends in
Sweden and Ireland.
We are not totally alone, Hans.
Hans...
Today, we saved seven lives.
Millions more to be saved.
But seven is a beautiful start.
GESTAPO: Do not
move. All of you.
[Speaking in German]
Keep still. Put your arms up.
Hands up!
KNOBLAUCH: Herr Bonhoeffer,
you will put your hands up.
BEST: Dietrich, please
raise your arms.
I'm tired of lifting my arms
for Hitler and his believers.
If he wants to
shoot me. He can.
KOKORIN: He wants to shoot us
all. Don't give him permission.
- The war's over.
- The war is over.
You heard the planes.
You hid from the bombs.
Just like us.
We are all Germans.
KNOBLAUCH: Please don't.
I forgive you.
No matter what you do.
How dare you. Forgive me?
How do you dare?
You son of a bitch!
DIETRICH: Why am
I being sent away
at the decisive moment?
Because you're worth more alive
in America than dead in Germany.
We need your charisma
in a pulpit in America,
not lighting a fuze in Berlin.
And you will return. Dietrich.
You're asking me to run when
I'm needed here the most.
HANS: Dietrich, the Nazis
are tracing the money
we used in Switzerland.
It's only a matter of time until
they find your fingerprints.
DIETRICH: You know
this to be true?
The Abwehr is lit
up with the search.
They don't know who they're
looking for yet, but they will.
This is your last chance, son.
Take it.
PAULA: I beg you, Dietrich.
I beg you, please.
You will travel as
Elgin Beckenbauer.
HANS: Hitler would be
coming to view the armory
at Zeughaus,
and we've arranged for
Rudy to be his guide.
You will have a glass
vial in each coat pocket.
Once you break them,
the fuze is lit and you
will have ten minutes
until detonation.
This is a trigger that
cannot be unpulled.
Not just for Rudy,
but for all of us
in the Resistance.
RUDY: I'm honored to be chosen.
If I could die twice
for my country, I would.
I won't stop speaking
until the world knows
why we've done
what we had to do.
TRESCKOW: Pastor
Bonhoeffer, would you pray?
DIETRICH: God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Thank you for your
faithful servant,
Rudolf-Christopher.
And though what we are
about to embark upon
feels utterly alien,
it also feels precisely what
you have called us to do.
So guide our hands.
Guide our trembling hands.
DIETRICH: Frank.
FRANK: Finally
got you back home.
Shall we drop the suitcase
and take this town like
it needs to be taken?
I need to make a stop first.
And I need your full attention.
Come.
Go on now.
I didn't come to
hear you rehearse
how to shuffle papers.
Nine years ago,
I learned in this very building
that faith without action
is no faith at all.
[suspenseful music]
DIETRICH: And I've returned
to tell you, and
anyone who will listen,
that the time to rescue
the Jews of Europe,
and to end the madness of a man
who has dared to
call himself a god,
is now.
But how?
How can we act when we face
this kind of terror,
this kind of despair?
Because all our Savior
ever asked of Peter was...
follow Me.
Two words.
But where does
Christ bid us follow?
And can we set
aside all our plans
and do as He says?
Because when Christ
calls a man, He bids him,
Come and die.
RUDY: More than a thousand
Vickers machine guns
captured from France.
Every Hotchkiss M that
Belgium surrendered.
And countless T-26 tanks
from the fall of Kharkov.
These are your spoils from
more than a dozen countries
brought to their knees
by your strength alone.
Europe is burning.
In Kiev, Nazi killing
squads shot dead.
33,000 Jews in two days.
That's how far the
devil has gone.
But...
how far have you gone?
Most courage is wasted,
Herr Gersdorff.
Don't you agree?
All the way to the cross?
Because beyond the cross
is the resurrected life.
And that's the place to
which He calls each of us
since before the
beginning of time.
So...
Will you follow me?
[music intensifies]
Will you follow Him...
all the way to the cross?
REV POWELL: All the way to
the cross. Right, Dietrich?
Yes, sir. Yes.
Only problem,
Your cross isn't in America yet.
It's in Germany.
I too remember understanding
what I was preaching
only the moment the
words left my mouth.
DIETRICH: Reverend,
I'm not running away.
I'm running towards.
That's fair enough.
Towards what?
And where...
where is your finish line?
[phone rings]
HANS: Dietrich? DIETRICH:
Is this a clear line?
The only one left.
Hans...
I'm coming home.
- You can't.
- I thought we decided...
God didn't agree
and neither do I.
Is it done?
No.
No. The fuze was lit,
but Hitler sensed something.
He was gone before the
work could be finished.
- Gersdorff?
- Is alive.
Somehow. A miracle.
But we need help from
England. From Churchill.
And there's no safe
means of reaching him.
- Have you asked for help?
- HANS: Yes.
Another bomb, two if necessary.
But our communications are down.
He may be standing by,
ready to light our fuze,
but there is no way of knowing.
Now, listen, my ship
stops in London first.
I know Bishop Bell
would help me.
I don't want you coming home
to be arrested or worse.
I want to.
Hans...
I'm coming home.
London is crawling
with Nazi spies.
They're watching everywhere.
Good.
I like getting away.
[dramatic music]
BRIT: Wait here.
Why write what no one reads?
BISHOP BELL: Your
books have been read
more than you know, my friend.
DIETRICH: So, please tell
me England will listen.
He cannot provide
the bomb you request.
Cannot or will not.
Churchill sees
Germany as a whole.
Says he can't afford
to see the small
threads in the tapestry
when the whole
cloth is Nazi brown.
There is gold amidst
the dark, my friend.
We cannot be forgotten
or burned with the rest.
I gave it everything,
reputation included.
He's afraid that a bomb
traced to England would mean
invasion or worse.
DIETRICH: Invasion? Invasion?
My country was
invaded from within!
Does Churchill know
what that feels like?
And please don't tell
me you agree with him.
Of course not.
I bent his ear and his
heart till breaking.
Nothing.
God doesn't always give
answers, my friend.
But He always gives Himself.
And you are here. You are safe.
Oh, my safety is a prison.
I'll return to Berlin
unarmed but full-hearted.
Now, look, are you
sure you won't stay?
Your voice could be louder
than loud from our pulpits.
I've learned, finally, Bishop,
that people don't hear what
is shouted from the pulpit
as much as they hear what
is whispered in the street.
My prayers go with you, my son.
Then pray what I pray.
For the defeat of Germany.
HANS: You shouldn't
have come home.
I had to.
To tell me Churchill
has turned his back?
You could have done
that from London
and then gone and lived a life.
It isn't over yet, my friend.
What are we going
to do, Dietrich?
England was our last chance.
And don't say pray.
GESTAPO: Faster now.
Moving on into the bus.
- Straight lines.
- Moving all the way in.
- Faster now!
- Moving all the way in.
DIETRICH: No, no, please.
[Speaking in German]
GESTAPO: We have
13 bodies to fit.
DR. RASCHER: What do you
think, Herr Bonhoeffer?
Why this traveling circus?
And the Allies are
getting closer.
Perhaps they want some
prisoners alive to barter with.
You've been praying
for a rescue.
I hear you in the
middle of the night.
What if your God fails
you this one last time?
[speaking in German]
KNOBLAUCH: Take the Bible.
Thank you.
KNOBLAUCH: There will
be absolute silence.
No talking.
[car door slams shut]
[engine revs]
PAULA: No. No. No.
[speaking in German]
Here I am.
HOBLE: Halt!
What has become of the church
when a pastor has
turned into an assassin?
DIETRICH: If a driver were
running over children,
would it not be everyone's
responsibility to stop it?
PUNDER: Dietrich?
What is it, friend?
Knoblauch wanted to warn.
It happens at dawn.
He asked to see you.
He said it has to be now.
KNOBLAUCH: We only have a few
moments, but I can help you.
You don't have to end this way.
I have a spare uniform,
nearly your size.
I have food coupons and money.
We walk out together
after sunset.
Just two guards headed
into the village.
Tonight.
It is not too late.
There's an old
railway overgrown,
where a car won't even be heard.
I can't escape.
What? Why? You deserve to.
We all deserve to.
But I wouldn't make
it out of Germany.
My family would be killed.
You and your family.
Listen, every act of
courage carries a cost.
I made my choice 12 years ago,
long before I knew
what it would mean,
and I've been chased ever since.
But now...
I'm ready to meet my destiny.
[somber music]
DIETRICH: Once upon a
time, I was a pastor.
KOKORIN: Will you
be our pastor today?
I will.
The Lord Jesus, on the
night he was betrayed,
took bread,
and when he had given thanks,
he broke it and said,
This...
is my body,
which is broken...
This is the body...
for you.
For our Lord Jesus Christ.
'Do this for the
remembrance of me.'
BEST: We can't allow...
It is not our table.
It is the Lord's,
And He has invited us all.
Lift your head.
This is the body of our Lord.
'This is my blood,
spilled for you.
Do this whenever you drink it
for the remembrance of me.'
[eerie music]
DIETRICH: For me,
this is not the end...
but the beginning of life.
GESTAPO: Bonhoeffer,
to the gallows.
DIETRICH: You will get
these to my mother.
I know you will.
Tell her I couldn't
find a strawberry,
but my words did.
[wind blowing]
GESTAPO: Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
for money laundering
and your role
in the conspiracy to
assassinate the Fhrer
on July 20th,
you're sentenced to
death by hanging.
[Knoblauch cries]
DIETRICH: Blessed
are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed...
are the pure in heart,
For they shall see...
God.
[Bonhoeffer hangs]
[musical swirl]
[music & hammer pounding]
[wing flaps]
[music & thunder]
[somber music]
YOUNG DIETRICH: You
never catch me, Walter!
No one will.
I'm so fast, I'm invisible.
WALTER: You may be faster than
a cheetah, little brother,
but I can see you plain as day.
And I will eat you for dinner.
You only think you can see
me. That's part of the spell.
Oh...
I told Walter I was invisible,
but I don't think
he believes me.
Yeah. He's right.
I mean, I can see
you standing here
with a grass stain on
your new lederhosen.
Just hurry. Mother.
I need another spell.
Lucky enough for you,
strawberries can make a
boy disappear completely.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Ha!
Special powers...
- From a strawberry?
- Invisibility.
Again?
- This one really works.
- Tell him, Mother.
Yeah. It takes a
minute to work.
Yeah, it takes a minute.
Oh.
Hi, Papa.
Hello, Dietrich.
Walter?
Yes.
Haven't given up yet.
Never.
Exactly.
You will never catch that boy.
You can't hide forever.
Ha!
Gotcha!
Dietrich!
[door slams shut]
[footsteps]
Shh!
[floor creaks]
Hi, Walter.
[running footsteps]
[man yells angrily in German]
GESTAPO: No talking.
[jet flies above]
GESTAPO: There
was a bridge here.
I swear to you, sir.
Bridges don't like bombs.
This means another 50 miles
just to find a way across.
Why are we stopping
in the middle of hell?
They mean to throw
us over the ravine.
No, no. That's not it.
There used to be a bridge here.
They are taking us
somewhere. Awaiting orders.
As long as we're on this bus.
We are safe.
Safe?
What is safe?
[explosion in the distance]
[more jets flying above]
[explosions]
[jets flying and explosions]
We need to move, now.
[man yells angrily in German]
KNOBLAUCH: Get us north.
[somber music]
PAULA: It's not
goodbye, Walter.
You have everything
in your suitcase?
Yes, Mother.
Including the extra toothbrushes
you hid in my socks.
So now I have three.
You can give one to a soldier
whose mother is not so...
attentive.
KARL: It's the right
thing at the right time.
And you will come home a hero
to a country that will
always be grateful.
Well, I think things might
actually be quiet on the front.
Christel, don't be sad.
Susanne.
Klaus.
Sabine.
Dietrich.
You better stock
up on strawberries,
little brother,
because I will be home before
you know where to hide.
[engine starts]
YOUNG DIETRICH: Walter!
Walter! Stay!
Walter!
[music intensifies]
[somber music]
[thunder]
[soft piano music]
That is Walter's favorite song.
Don't stop. Sweetheart.
Walter loved that song.
Why did you stop?
I'll never play it again.
Of course you will.
No one listened
to Walter's song.
No one cared.
Everyone cares.
They're just swept up in
their thoughts of Walter.
I don't know what to do, Mother.
I know.
Walter asked me,
If he didn't come
home from the war...
he said, Tell little brother
that I underlined
all the good parts.
[emotional music]
Ahh.
Walter needed a
strawberry, Mama.
Yes. Yes, he did, my love.
[ominous music]
[dogs bark]
[prison cells open]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
PROFESSOR FOSDICK: Nearly
100 years. A century...
of excellence and learning
in the service of Unitas,
Veritas.
Caritas. 100 years.
This lecture has been going
on about one hundred years.
PROFESSOR FOSDICK: In 1836,
the founders of Union were
deeply impressed by the
demands of the world
upon the church
and forged a new vision
for theological education
right here in New York City.
Mr. Bonhoeffer.
I'm certain that the
German theologians
that sent their star
pupil from Berlin
would not want him
squandering his time
on small jokes and idle chatter.
Forgive me, professor.
Yeah.
DIETRICH: Inflicting
that level of boredom
should absolutely
get a man fired.
FISHER: If bad lectures
got a man fired at Union,
this seminary would have
been empty a long time ago.
I've been here three weeks,
and I feel like I could
teach most of these classes.
That's what happens when you
study the words so closely.
You forget there's
a god behind them.
Then what brought you here
all the way from Alabama?
I didn't come for Union but
the city in which it resides.
New. York. City.
You know, D, not every
church has a steeple.
[background conversation
& traffic]
MAN IN QUEUE: What do you say?
DOORMAN: Good to
see you, Frank.
[women speaking in background]
[jazz music starts]
FISHER: Hey.
Good to see you.
Yo. I'll have the same
one. On the spritz.
Hey, baby.
AVA: Frank Fisher.
FISHER: Ava. I love your dress.
AVA: Have I heard
that line before?
[trumpet soloist begins]
What is this?
This is jazz.
I've played piano
since I was a child,
but I feel like until now
I've never heard music.
ARMSTRONG: If you
can play, come on up.
Let's see what you got.
[soft piano music]
[gospel choir begins]
Leave it there.
If you have all your faith
and the Lord
is always here.
And you have to get along
with meager fare.
Just remember,
in His word,
How He feeds
the little bird.
Take your burden
to the Lord,
leave it there.
And that's why Pinocchio...
is the greatest fictional
character ever created.
- Anna: Excuse me, Mr. B.
- Yes.
Mama said this is supposed
to be Sunday school.
- Oh, this is Sunday school.
- Just more school on Sunday.
And every day is a day to learn.
Veronica: I already know
what that story means.
Don't lie
or your nose will grow like
a snake made out of wood.
HENRY: Not a snake
made out of wood.
The lesson is, if you
want to be a real boy,
it's a lot harder
than being a puppet.
Henry's exactly right.
It's difficult to be a real boy.
To tell the truth.
To love.
To have compassion for others.
That's what makes
you fully human.
But if you live by love,
then you don't want to lie.
You want to be real.
And your strings...
[makes popping sound]
get cut.
And you don't get a snake made
out of wood as a nose either.
Yes, that's a side benefit.
[children laugh]
We sneaking out early to
go hear the choir again?
Call your souls away.
If you're fighting,
striving for the right,
you shall wear
a golden crown.
- I shall wear a crown.
I shall wear a crown.
- When the trumpet sounds
- When the trumpet sounds
- Oh Lord
When the trumpet sounds
I shall wear a crown,
I shall wear a crown
I shall wear a
robe and crown.
- Let the church say amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
DIETRICH: Three months
I've been coming,
and I still can't believe
church can be like this.
REV POWELL: I take it
that you don't have
churches like us in Berlin?
Oh, not in Berlin or in
Paris or in all of Europe.
Well, God asked us
to attend a party.
To partake in fellowship.
To love.
And sometimes love can be loud.
Especially here in Harlem.
So where were you when
you first met the Lord?
Met?
I don't understand.
I'll tell you where I was.
I was playing craps in the alley
in Cabin Creek, West Virginia.
Losing money like I
could print it at home.
By midnight I was down a hundred
and only my fast feet
were gonna save me from
the back end of a jail.
So I ran,
but I found myself not
more than thirty yards
from a Baptist revival tent.
And you know who was
waiting for me inside?
The Lord.
He was in every lit-up
face of the gospel singers.
He was in the salty words
of that traveling preacher.
He was in the sweet loving hands
of that grandmother
that led me to my seat.
But he was also in
the broken souls
of every liar, cheat and sinner
in that blessed tent.
Because Jesus...
was with His people.
Just like He promised.
And, Dietrich, he
filled that place,
so as to tear at the
very seams of that tent.
And he filled me up to
overflowin' ever since.
I want that.
Well, it's simple, son.
Taste.
And see that the Lord is good.
I know He's good.
REV POWELL: But do
you know how good?
A man can waste a
whole lifetime...
saying God is good
and never asking Him to show
the fullness of His glory.
- Hallelujah.
- Hallelujah!
Whoa.
But hallelujah ain't
gonna do all the work now.
And there is so much
more work to be done.
- Amen.
- That's right.
REV POWELL: Did you
see that black flag
hanging from the building?
Yes.
FISHER: That's for Thomas
Shipp, innocent man,
lynched three days ago
in Marion, Indiana.
We may be free in our souls,
but there's another
freedom that we seek.
A God-given freedom
that man has deigned
to take away.
I am so sorry.
FISHER: We don't need
you to be sorry, D.
We need you to tell the world.
- Yeah, son.
- You think we invited you
just to show you the
good places to eat?
Ha ha!
We should take him
to South Carolina,
see if he still wants
to hang out with us.
How about south of 110th Street?
Dietrich don't know
he in Negro heaven.
REV POWELL: That's
a brilliant idea.
Frank, why don't you
take him on a road trip?
How far you think we should go?
REV POWELL: I think to
be safe, let's say DC.
He can see Lincoln statue
and the white man's statutes.
See which one speaks louder.
- Got you again.
- Olly olly oxen free.
Goose Goslin with the goner.
Our friendship is not as...
alien as you predicted.
We haven't asked
for anything yet.
Go book a room, pay for
it, come get me after.
- Good evening.
- A room. Just for a night.
That'll be $2.
Two dollars, huh.
Seems fair.
Let's go see how fair.
No rooms to let.
- Good night.
- Kind sir.
My friend just booked a room.
He paid a good two dollars.
He invited me here.
Whoa, whoa, sir.
Who in hell...
would wanna be friends
with a tar baby like you?
DIETRICH: He's my
friend. I have a key.
[intense musical buildup]
Sir, by the cross on the wall,
I can see that you're
my brother under Christ.
As my friend Frank here is too.
Surely our love of
the Lord unites us.
I paid for this room,
and Frank and I,
we are going to stay in this...
How dare...
you animals interrupt
my quiet evening
with your violence.
The next one comes from
the other end of this gun.
Hey, hey, slow down, man.
Dietrich. Where you rushing to?
I should have torn that
cross off his wall.
Oh, now, now. Dietrich...
How many cheeks
you have to turn?
Hold on, now. Dietrich!
How many maniacs do I
have to save you from?
There's always an inn at
the end of the search.
- Always. That much I know.
- Dietrich. Listen to me.
Sometimes there's just a manger.
DIETRICH: I'm so embarrassed.
I put you in danger.
No more danger than
I face any day.
How could I think it would work,
simply because I
wanted it to work?
It's alright, D. It's alright.
I could not raise a hand
against another man.
This kind of hate...
takes something
stronger than a punch.
Sometimes a punch makes
some necessary noise.
And sometimes...
it's just as useless as
spitting in the wind.
We're so fortunate not having
anything like this in Germany.
My brother,
hate comes in every color.
Your eyes just haven't
been opened yet.
Our hosts must have
a special distaste
for you and me, Herr Bonhoeffer.
I don't know you.
Doctor Sigmund Rascher,
once the Fhrer's
championed scientist.
And you are Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
the pastor who forgot
to love his enemy.
Yeah. I know why I'm here.
But you, you...
were his golden child.
DR RASCHER: The
Fhrer thanked me
for studying the
Juden's final moments.
To make the choice
to stop a heart.
That is my greatest
accomplishment.
For what is a life...
if we do not
comprehend its ending?
Alas, there was no cure
for my Fhrer's jealousy.
Jealousy.
I made the fatal mistake
of not pretending that
he was smarter than I.
So for all my work,
I get a trap door
and a piece of rope.
[intense music]
That's what we all get.
I should be fitted
for a crown...
one day.
Our season may have ended,
but it will come again.
Your season
ended long ago.
'The light came into the world,
and the darkness did
not overcome it.'
Look around you, my friend.
How much light do you see?
Oh, I've just found joy
I'm as happy as a baby boy
With another brand new
choo-choo toy
when I'm with my
sweet Lorraine.
A pair of eyes
That are bluer than
the summer skies
When you see them,
you'll realize
why I love my
sweet Lorraine.
Oh, I'm so happy
When it's raining
I don't miss the sun
For it's in my
sweetie's smile
Just to think that
I'm the lucky one
Who will lead her
down the aisle
Oh, each night I pray
That nobody takes
her heart away
I can't wait until
that happy day
When I marry sweet Lorraine
It's all right to clap now.
That music is...
It's called jazz.
And it reinvents your
ears with every note.
I'm glad you're home, brother.
Germany was emptier without you.
Can you tell us one more
thing before I go up?
One thing we couldn't
imagine about America.
Alright. It's this.
In the German church,
I was headed into the
dead end of religion.
[radio plays news]
Father, did you hear me?
Yes.
DIETRICH: I don't want to
pursue theology any longer.
KARL: Thank God.
Such a fine mind was always
too good for the church.
DIETRICH: In Harlem, I
finally saw real faith,
instead of dead religion.
And now I plan on teaching the
German church all about it.
Wait. The church?
But you just said you
were done with religion.
I am. As should be the church.
KARL: I like that, son.
You're still cocky.
Trying to teach the church?
They sure could use some
damn instructions at the moment.
Karl.
HANS: The Nazis rise to power
has everyone a little
anxious, Dietrich.
The Nazis?
They only got, what was it,
eighteen percent in '30?
And that was a mirage.
Well, this year's
mirage will double that.
I don't believe it.
KARL: That's because
you were away
while Hitler used
the Versailles Treaty
like his personal weapon.
Every bad thing that
ever happened in Germany
landed on the doorsteps of
the Jews and the communists,
and there were
enough working people
begging for bread to believe it.
There's no chance that
this loudmouth from Austria
will have fooled
enough Germans by then.
But Hitler only has
to fool the Germans
who come out to vote.
But he's still only one man.
If he does somehow
manage to sneak in,
we'll vote him out next time.
Just like we did with
Ebert, and Simons.
See? Your mother
still believes in
the wisdom of people.
Unfortunately, that's
how tyrants win.
So now it's my fault that Hitler
will become chancellor?
KARL: Things have
changed, Paula.
The country has grown angrier,
and people are falling prey
to this nationalism
and paranoia.
HANS: And the Nazis
feed off that.
They've been systematic,
fighting for every
local election,
each tiny hamlet,
prying the country
from our hands
while few were even watching.
And the church, no
doubt, bears some blame.
KARL: Oh, yeah.
Hitler and his new Bishop Mller
now call it the Reichskirche.
The Church of the Third Reich.
One man cannot change the
name of the whole church.
KARL: He already has, Dietrich.
HANS: I've heard via my
office that the Nazis plan
to identify and
dispose of people
with mental disabilities.
Father, that can't be true.
DIETRICH: You speak
in nightmares.
Well, surely rumor and
rage cannot win the day.
Unless the day is already lost.
[footsteps]
SABINE: Shouldn't smoke in bed.
DIETRICH: When we were little,
I used to steal
father's cigarettes
and pretend to
smoke them up here.
Me too.
Never got past one puff.
I guess we've graduated.
Remember, we would lie here
staring at the ceiling,
call out to Walter in heaven.
Yeah.
Every night for years.
Eternity. Eternity. Eternity.
Eternity.
Like a song. An invitation.
- Eternity. Eternity.
- Eternity.
It never worked.
It worked for me once.
You never told me.
I didn't want to
make you feel bad.
He was wearing his uniform.
He was walking away
towards an umbrella.
On a beach.
He took off his hat.
And left it in the sand.
And he walked on.
Towards the sea.
Must be true what
they say about twins.
Then you're as afraid as I am.
I am.
But I don't know why.
Something's coming.
Something unstoppable.
Nothing is unstoppable.
SABINE: Eternity.
Eternity. Eternity.
Eternity.
SABINE: Eternity.
Eternity. Eternity.
Eternity.
Eternity.
Eternity.
[intense music]
Eternity... eternity.
Walter, where are you?
Sabine, I can't do this alone.
MLLER: Finally, my
friends, we know who we are.
How long have we
waited for this moment
when we can finally hear
Germany's heart beat again?
At last we have read the writing
on the walls of
this country's soul,
and the words are:
Chancellor Adolf Hitler!
God sent Germany a prophet.
And more than that.
A true Savior!
To speak of any Savior but
Christ from the pulpit...
blasphemy.
Dietrich, everything new
needs a moment to settle.
We're in God's house
and the bishop is
celebrating a man.
I don't need time
to let it settle.
MLLER: So that we can
solve the great challenges
facing our people.
To combine our shared power
so that we can
achieve this together.
Alright.
Alright, you don't
support Hitler.
Many don't.
But that doesn't mean that
you can make a distraction...
DIETRICH: They are
building an idol to Hitler
inside those walls in real time.
NIEMLLER: You're
exaggerating, Dietrich.
You've been away quite a while,
while this man has
been building...
building what?
An army of clergy, blinded by...
I don't even know what.
This man is without charm,
without character or charisma.
He has captured the nation's
imagination, Dietrich.
And our churches are fuller
than have been in years.
But it's not about how many,
Bishop, it's about who.
Don't you realize handing
a man this kind of crown
will come with a terrible price?
I can't agree.
Both for us...
and those he so aggressively
targeting, the Jews.
Yeah. Surely Herr
Hitler will resolve
the Jewish question too.
Why must there even
be a Jewish question?
This is our national cathedral.
Dietrich,
it has long been our policy
that politics and the
church should not intersect.
[audience claps in background]
Listen to that applause.
They already have.
What if I speak to
Chancellor Hitler?
We both fought in the Great War.
He might listen.
Then tell him the church
does not belong to him
or any man.
It belongs to the living God.
Not everything needs to
be a fight, Dietrich.
Your heart is moving
faster than your mind.
Yes, speed matters.
If no one warns
the German people,
they might think
the entire clergy
agrees with Bishop Mller
and his sycophants.
I have the pulpit at Kaiser
Wilhelm in two weeks.
At Jacobi's invitation.
In fact, that might be
the perfect opportunity
to speak up against...
Now, listen closely,
young friend.
Everyone will be
paying attention.
Including this bishop that
still remains your superior.
I advise you recall
the words of the English
writer William Shakespeare.
Discretion is the
better part of valor.
Yeah, I prefer the words
of a Jewish writer, Paul.
'God has not given
us a spirit of fear.'
If you don't take
your fear from God,
perhaps you should take
it from your bishop.
[church bells ring]
KARL: I never understood kites.
All this effort and
they take you nowhere.
DIETRICH: I think the idea
is they get you to look up.
KARL: Oh. My optimistic son.
Everything always
pointing to the sky.
You realize I come
for these walks
to take a break from giving
out advice, don't you?
- I'm sorry.
- I can figure it out myself.
I'm sure you already have.
I guess I'm just seeking
permission to be brave.
You don't need anyone's
permission, son.
You already are.
Thank you.
KARL: Don't thank
me until after.
DIETRICH: After?
KARL: After whatever is
requiring all this courage
in the first place.
[ominous music]
They won't eat you, Dietrich.
At least not until
after the sermon.
[dramatic music]
Woe to you, hypocrites,
You white-washed tombs,
outwardly beautiful,
inwardly full of
dead man's bones.
You serpents, you vipers.
How can you escape damnation?
These violent words
are not my own.
They come from the
mouth of our Lord.
And His harshest words
were not for sinners
but always reserved
for the religious.
Because there has never
been anyone in history
who hated religion
more than Jesus Christ.
He never wanted our religion.
All he ever wanted...
was us.
Our full selves.
But we, the German church,
are on the verge of giving
ourselves to another.
Of choosing full pews
over full hearts.
The church should be
a place of refuge,
a place of sanctuary,
not a place of power.
The German church must
stand on God's word alone.
Not any man's word,
and especially not
a Fhrer's word.
[dramatic music intensifies]
DIETRICH: Turn with
me in scripture
to Matthew chapter five.
It's been a long time
since I've heard truth
preached from their pulpit.
Thank you.
I wish you were
preaching every Sunday.
Might actually get my
Otto back to church.
What a privilege
to be with you all.
- Oh, yes, it was a privilege.
- One squandered.
But now you have people's
attention, Dietrich.
Perhaps that's everything
you've ever wanted.
I'm sorry if...
The truth doesn't
apologize for being true.
The truth also separates
marrow from bone.
You are on the other side of
those words now, Dietrich.
Beware,
you're not standing on the
same ground you were yesterday.
I'm so proud.
Just brilliant, brother.
- Thank you.
- Brilliant.
Mother. Father.
Courage needed, Son.
Courage shown.
You were wonderful, son.
But it looked like you were
painting a target on your chest
with every single sentence.
Better a target than a swastika.
Why does there have
to be a target?
There were not so many
in the church today.
A message like that,
it's not the size of the crowd
but who's been paying attention.
[crowd cheers]
For the members of the church
under Hitler, the Reichskirche,
demand the immediate cessation
of the publishing
and dissemination
of the Jewish Bible in Germany.
- Per order by the Fhrer!
- Mein Fhrer!
KRAUSE: The Christ of the new
German Bible will be Aryan,
with no Jewish roots.
No Jewish weakness.
The church must clear away
all crucifixes, Bibles
and images of the saints,
and replace them
with our leader's
glorious words.
And it must be superseded by
the only unconquerable symbol,
the swastika!
[crowd cheers]
[Speaking in German]
[men argue in background]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
Matthias?
Matthias.
Matthias.
Matthias. Hey,
you don't think I know it's you
just because you're
playing dress-up?
Rudolph, enough
of this Karneval.
Boys, what is this?
Catechism is in five
minutes inside. What...
Wilhelm.
Heinrich, look at me.
This is madness!
This is not a joke to be played.
Hey, I don't need
your hands on me, sir.
- You need more than that.
- They are children!
Go back inside, pastor.
The church youth are
now the Hitler Youth,
as it should be.
Some problem here, Max?
Only that this clergyman
seems to have lost his flock.
[car door slams shut]
JACOBI: Dietrich, listen to me.
The church youth is now
costumed as the Hitler Youth.
I mean, how long until
the entire country is
painted black?
So what can we do? Because
do something we must.
It's not what we can do.
It's what you can do.
Sit down, Herr Bonhoeffer.
My every move is being watched
since I gave you that
Sunday at Kaiser Wilhelm.
We need someone young
who has staked a claim
for the truth already.
No one's been interested
in speaking to me
since the last time
I opened my mouth.
You may not know
it, but your sermon
not only angered the Nazis,
it also galvanized a whole
raft of seminary students
and made you friends in places
where they never
even go to church.
Good. Because more than
the church's life
is on the line.
This is a knife to the
heart of the nation.
Bravery is a rare
commodity, Dietrich.
[dramatic music]
Especially when it's
needed the most.
Can you rally more than
your words to this cause?
I'm ready for anything, sir.
I'm about to ask you to
save the German church.
To save it,
we'll have to split it apart.
You will go to
England as our spy.
Bishop Bell, he's
already waiting.
JACOBI: Your job
will be simple.
Tell him the truth so
we can set it free.
DIETRICH: If the
river gets any higher,
we're going to have
a second baptism.
Well, it's the
first day in a month
it hasn't rained in West Sussex.
You keep an eye out for Noah.
Thank you for meeting with me.
I know I'm too young to be a
messenger for Germany's worries.
David was a teenager.
Moses was an old man.
God calls when He calls.
DIETRICH: What
good is the church
if it doesn't speak for
the victims of the state?
For those who have no voice.
The Jews.
RECTOR: The Jews?
DIETRICH: We cannot stand by
while the Jews are
being persecuted.
BISHOP 1: You
bring us a problem
of which there is no proof.
How do we know that this is
simply not Jewish propaganda?
DIETRICH: I have seen
the yellow stars,
the violence in the streets.
Hitler has carved
them out of society.
Left them stateless,
unprotected.
So look me in the eye
and call me propaganda.
I have secreted myself
here to tell you
that the true German
church has no alternative
but to break away from the
false church of the Nazis,
their Reichskirche.
We need to let the world
know what the Nazis are
doing to the Jews.
And if the church
does not speak now,
we will lose our voice
for a hundred years.
BISHOP 1: This is
a German problem,
not an international one.
Hitler took Germany
and her church
without firing a single bullet.
How many will he
have to fire at you?
BISHOP 3: But you
speak of bullets
when you should be
planning diplomacy.
BISHOP 4: The church's job is
to kindle peace, peacefully.
Oh, You mean silently.
If need be.
Our silence in the face
of evil is itself evil.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act.
[background conversation]
BISHOP BELL: I
agree with Dietrich.
Hitler is a threat
to all humanity.
The church
should be the first to
make that announcement.
Not the last.
BISHOP BELL: Now, Dietrich
is going to speak,
and the scrivener
is going to write,
and unless you have
anything to add,
I suggest we all
enter a silent period.
[suspenseful music]
We, the Confessing
Church in Germany,
reject the false doctrines
of the German Reich church.
We declare that the church
does not belong to any man and
that it is under the
authority of God alone.
WIFE: The church exists
not merely for its members,
but more vitally, for
those who are not.
PUBLICAN: God calls the church
to be the conscience
of the state
and where there are victims
to bind up their wounds.
CLEMENTINE: I do hope the frost
doesn't punish my Comices.
CHURCHILL: Listen
to this, Clemmie.
And if the state
harms and oppresses,
and for Germany,
this means the Jews,
then the church must
stand against the state,
must put a stick in the
very wheel of the state
until it stops.
CLEMENTINE: It sounds like
Mr. Bonhoeffer and his merry men
just did what England
are too afraid to do.
What is that, darling?
Declare war on Hitler.
[plane takes flight]
Over here!
MAN: Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
Who needs to know?
DIETRICH: You can't just
kidnap a German citizen
upon a German airport.
DRIVER: Turn around.
We leaked that you were
arriving via Amsterdam.
It gave us just enough time
to meet your flight
from Belfast.
MAN: Germany is no longer
safe for you, Herr Bonhoeffer.
For any of us.
And where is?
[tense music]
I didn't know
anyone in the church
still wanted to see me.
NIEMOLLER: Not
the Reichskirche.
But the Confessing Church, yes.
And I have much to confess.
I had it completely
wrong, Dietrich.
Can you...
Can you find it in your
heart to forgive me?
Bishop, of course.
Come.
NIEMOLLER: It takes
courage to face the dark.
And you faced it.
I was too busy closing my
eyes, covering my ears.
The church you tried to save
had become religion
without Christ.
But what we need is
Christ without religion.
You know, my father used to say,
When you board the wrong train,
there's no use
running down the aisle
in the opposite direction.
He's right.
But you also can just
jump off the train
and start all over again.
We have smuggled the
finest seminary students
from all over Germany here.
And we have brought
them our finest teacher.
I'm so glad it's you.
No, it's not me, Dietrich.
It's you.
You have been called
for such a time
as this, Dietrich.
Look. This is the new
Nazi Bible. Take a look.
Jesus is now an Aryan.
And the Ten Commandments
have become twelve.
DIETRICH: Honor your
Fhrer and master.
Keep the blood pure
and your honor...
This is the
definition of unholy.
Dietrich,
I am expected on my pulpit
in Dahlem every Sunday.
I can't hide.
Or they will start
looking for me
and discover all of this.
DIETRICH: I'm a
young man myself.
What could I possibly
teach these students?
Teach them your heart.
- My heart?
- Yes.
My heart is broken.
Then teach them that.
See, this is not a
spiritual escape.
This is a literal escape.
Every young man down there
had been ticketed for
the Eastern Front.
So you brought us all here
so we could be kept
in one place safe.
A prison
No, this is not a
prison, Dietrich.
This is a haven from which
to launch our attack.
EBERHARD: Pastor Bonhoeffer.
My name is Eberhard Bethge,
one of the 23 students
chosen, excommunicated,
by the German Church
and Herr Mller.
We are honored to have
you as our teacher.
Then I think it's time
for your first lesson.
Ready?
[joyful music]
Don't touch the ball. Come on.
Wake up!
Let's go. Come on.
Hey! Come on.
Come on.
DIETRICH: So my new friend
Eberhard just informed me
that he knows his way around
Gumpelzhaimer's Agnus Dei
and some few choice
works of Heinrich Schtz,
which to me all sounded like
some sort of punishment.
So what will you play
for us then, Dietrich?
An evening this
sweet calls for some
pure gospel music.
Gospel?
No more words.
All you have to do is listen.
[gospel music begins]
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot
DIETRICH: Coming
to carry me home.
Lord.
Carry me home now.
Lord, I'm ready.
To see Walter.
I'm ready to see you.
Take me home.
Lord.
Take me home.
[men yell in background]
PRISONER: Dietrich! Over here!
Dietrich! Over here.
DIETRICH: Check the locks.
DIETRICH: Gunther,
free the others.
DIETRICH: Check the locks.
Free the others. Come on.
PRISONER: Watch.
DIETRICH: Stay close.
Watch for the guards.
PRISONER 1: Should we escape?
The garrison in the next
village will shoot us dead.
PUNDER: This country is
too big to escape from.
PRISONER 1: So we
wait here to die?
Shh!
PUNDER: What do we do?
We wait. We pray.
We act.
[tense music]
No, no.
No no no.
[gunshot]
GESTAPO: Stop!
[somber music]
EBERHARD: Dietrich.
This was three days ago.
That's why Bishop Bell
rushed it by secret courier.
He must have known
the German papers
wouldn't be covering it.
I'm going to Berlin.
- That's madness.
- You'll be arrested immediately.
Eberhard, I can't
keep pretending that
praying and teaching is enough.
[car engine]
[dogs bark in background]
GESTAPO: Have
your papers ready.
[man yells in background]
EBERHARD: There's no other road
into Berlin from the north.
We'll make our own road.
GESTAPO: We don't have
all night. Come on!
[somber music]
NIEMOLLER: The
Gestapo is here today.
Make sure you welcome them.
Hand them a hymnal.
Or maybe they only know how
to sing their own songs now.
Indeed, our friends in
uniform are fellow worshipers,
just not of the same God.
For years they have
been saying now
that this country is infested.
And I finally agree.
But this infestation
comes from within,
and not by the Jews who
are our spiritual brothers
and to whom we owe
an unpayable debt,
but by those who
claim a higher office
than the Lord Jesus
Christ himself.
Look at me.
Have the courage to look at me.
Go tell your Fhrer that
he's not bigger than God,
And for daring to
claim His throne,
there awaits a punishment
beyond his understanding.
[audience clapping]
[dramatic music]
This is not your house!
NIEMOLLER: I know
I've been your pastor
for almost 13 years now
and my job is to
lead this flock.
But I failed.
Because when the Nazis first
came for the socialists,
I didn't speak out because
I was not a socialist.
And when they later came
for the trade unionists,
I didn't speak out
because I am not a unionist.
And then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out,
not soon enough,
because I am not a Jew.
So when they come
to knock at my door,
will there be anyone
left to speak out for me?
NEIMOLLER: It was
reckless of you to come.
But nevertheless,
I'm grateful you did.
Everything is different now.
After what they
call Kristallnacht.
I still need you outside.
I think today
this was my last sermon.
ELSE: But you finally
said it in public.
What we've been
discussing at home.
And you said it to
their wicked faces.
I thought it was
brave, and beautiful.
[cars approach]
[somber music]
It's all good.
We're just going to
say goodbye to Daddy
for a little while.
Yes.
Listen, Jan, I'm very sorry,
but I have to go away.
- You don't. Stay.
- I want you to stay.
I want to stay too.
My boy. My son.
My precious son.
Please. Papa, Papa, stay.
- Look...
- Please.
I'm going to stay, but here.
Right here.
Always.
Always.
[banging on door]
JAN: Please.
[suspenseful music]
It is me whom you seek.
Leave the rest alone.
HOBLE: We shall take and leave
whomever and whatever we like.
You already stole this country.
What else do you want?
This is not your house.
Put the pastor in the car.
- Martin.
- No! no!
No, no.
EBERHARD: Dietrich.
No.
Once you finished your
search, burn it all.
EBERHARD: No! No. no.
EBERHARD: Leave him be!
ELSE: No!
EBERHARD: Stop.
[footsteps]
PAULA: It's just the way my
mother made Sptzle-Fass.
CHRISTEL: It isn't
fair. You have to
start writing your recipes down.
Tell her, my love.
It's true.
Dietrich. What happened?
PAULA: Hey, hey.
PAULA: Dietrich.
Hey, are you alright?
Are you alright?
Hey! Hey!
Christel, help him.
PAULA: Hans, what does it say?
HANS: They're
under house arrest.
KARL: Paula, we need
more gauze, please.
They turned our
house into a prison.
They've turned the entire
country into a prison, Father.
We have word from Finkenwalde.
The seminary was destroyed.
And the students who
wouldn't acquiesce
were forced into uniforms.
Either military
or for the camps.
Dietrich will be devastated.
He's lucky to be alive.
If he hadn't gone to Berlin,
they might have executed him
in front of his
students for sport.
EBERHARD: Dietrich.
Finkenwalde is gone.
DIETRICH: Everything I thought
God called me to pursue...
burnt to ash.
Life is loss.
And building again.
Everything in the world
has been built on top
of what came before.
DIETRICH: The
disciples all scattered
after Jesus was arrested.
I never understood
why, until now.
The disciples scattered
on Friday, yes.
But by Sunday,
they were on their way
to changing the world.
DIETRICH: Hans. My father said
you had something to discuss.
I'm ready to listen.
HANS: As a mole
inside the Abwehr.
I have it on absolute authority
that the Jews have been
targeted for total extinction.
The Nazis have set up
concentration camps,
forcing them to
die from disease,
hunger and hard labor.
Dachau,
Buchenwald, Flossenbrg,
Ravensbrck.
Bishop Niemller is in
a concentration camp
just like these,
at Sachsenhausen.
The Abwehr is
military intelligence
for the defense department.
While Hitler has
created the Gestapo
to be his own plaything,
The Abwehr works
independently of the Fhrer.
The Nazis plan to imprison
or front-line every pastor
that won't bow the
knee to Hitler.
DIETRICH: Yeah, tell me
there's something we can do.
HANS: There is.
Dietrich, I need
you to understand
that your life will
not be the same
after I speak these words.
- Even if you don't join us.
- DIETRICH: Yes. Speak.
HANS: This is not like when the
Resistance met in your house
and you offered theology
instead of action.
You Christians only know how
to keep your hands clean.
I hated hearing it then, and
I hate remembering it now.
HANS: This will
take dirty hands.
That's all I have left to offer.
Gentlemen,
we have devised a plot to
assassinate the Fhrer.
EBERHARD: Hans,
you're talking to
pastors, not killers.
Dietrich? Tell him.
Here I am, Hans.
Send me.
EBERHARD: Dietrich,
you're an avowed pacifist.
And David was a shepherd
when he slew Goliath.
The will of God is
that men should defeat
their enemies by loving them.
HANS: Who wrote
that empty promise?
DIETRICH: I did.
And I was right.
Before Hitler.
Is Hitler the first evil ruler
since scripture was written?
DIETRICH: No.
But he's the first
one I can stop.
What do you require of me?
EBERHARD: Will God
forgive us if we do this?
Will He forgive us if we don't?
In order to destroy the Fhrer,
you must first
swear allegiance...
to the Fhrer.
I've spent two years
ingratiating myself
with the Abwehr.
HANS: If you want to help,
this is our last angle to play.
Otherwise, you sit
home in forced silence,
or get sent to the
front to fight for him
instead of against him.
I guess sometimes the only way
to defeat the father of lies
is to lie better than he does.
[dramatic music]
BAMLER: Do you love the
Judensau more than the Germans?
It is not a difficult question.
One loves the Jews or
one loves the Fatherland.
HANS: The Fatherland.
BAMLER: I'm more
interested in the answer
of your new recruit here
who has been parading
with Niemller
for the Confessing Church.
I'm here to confess.
I didn't see what the
rest of the country saw.
And what is that,
Herr Bonhoeffer?
That the time had come
for Germany to rise
and for the rest of
the world to bow down.
- Heil Hitler.
- Heil Hitler.
The only problem
is, Herr Bonhoeffer.
I don't believe you.
So you must do me
one little favor
in order that I don't order
your immediate execution.
Your favor is my honor.
BAMLER: Neutral Switzerland
is becoming a problem.
[Speaking in German]
And since they are a neighbor,
this is the worst
problem of all.
I need you to take seven
Juden into Switzerland
and guarantee that they
deliver one message.
The Fhrer's message.
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
[Speaking in German]
Each prisoner will
tell the Swiss officials
that they've been
treated as guests
by the National Socialists.
Never felt safer,
more protected...
HANS: 'To ensure
the Swiss understand
the Germans have built
humanitarian camps
to guarantee the madness of war
shall not touch
the Jewish people
from now or going forward.'
It was so insane, I had
to memorize every line.
Words aren't words
anymore, Dietrich.
They're nooses,
bullets and knives.
My name is Hans,
and this is my
brother-in-law, Dietrich.
DIETRICH: I am a pastor.
I love the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob.
All of whom would be
in the gas chambers
if it were up to
Christians like you.
If you were speaking to many
members of my broken church,
you would be right,
but you are not.
HANS: When you cross
the border, you're free.
MOSES: Free?
What is free?
DIETRICH: What is your name?
MOSES: You animals,
you stole my name.
Crossed it out with
ink under my skin.
All that's left of my name
is a sound in my head.
Please, tell me your name.
I am Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
That's my name.
That's who I am.
Who are you?
Kiefer is my father's name.
My mother named me Moses.
It's an honor to
meet you, Moses.
HANS: We've brought
you here so you
can tell the Swiss the truth
about what is being
perpetrated by Hitler.
DIETRICH: We have church
contacts in Geneva
who will help upon your
arrival in the city.
MOSES: What if I
don't believe you?
DIETRICH: Neither would I.
But we only need you to believe
it long enough, Moses...
to see it.
HANS: By the decree
of the Fhrer,
in agreement with
President Etter.
Yes. We have been
expecting you.
These are free men, to be
welcomed in Switzerland.
That's the agreement we have.
Is it?
DIETRICH: We were
told they would be
taken by car to Geneva,
where they can wash and rest.
We are glad to
help our neighbor.
But, Jews?
Is that really the
best you can offer us?
We can offer invasion
if you prefer.
The French welcomed that
without a second debate.
DIETRICH: Hans, back of the
truck. The white box. Now.
SWISS GUARD: You Germans
think you own the world,
but you can do nothing
against a neutral country
without drawing in England,
and even the United States.
SWISS GUARD: Out.
SWISS GUARD: Seven Jews.
I guess that amounts
to 100,000 marks.
So the Swiss make money
on more than
chocolate and watches.
Seems being neutral
can be very lucrative.
Now... Switzerland
welcomes the Jews.
- Does anyone have a drink?
- We should toast this moment.
Why not?
[animal noises]
HANS: Dietrich, where
did you get the money?
Our friends in
Sweden and Ireland.
We are not totally alone, Hans.
Hans...
Today, we saved seven lives.
Millions more to be saved.
But seven is a beautiful start.
GESTAPO: Do not
move. All of you.
[Speaking in German]
Keep still. Put your arms up.
Hands up!
KNOBLAUCH: Herr Bonhoeffer,
you will put your hands up.
BEST: Dietrich, please
raise your arms.
I'm tired of lifting my arms
for Hitler and his believers.
If he wants to
shoot me. He can.
KOKORIN: He wants to shoot us
all. Don't give him permission.
- The war's over.
- The war is over.
You heard the planes.
You hid from the bombs.
Just like us.
We are all Germans.
KNOBLAUCH: Please don't.
I forgive you.
No matter what you do.
How dare you. Forgive me?
How do you dare?
You son of a bitch!
DIETRICH: Why am
I being sent away
at the decisive moment?
Because you're worth more alive
in America than dead in Germany.
We need your charisma
in a pulpit in America,
not lighting a fuze in Berlin.
And you will return. Dietrich.
You're asking me to run when
I'm needed here the most.
HANS: Dietrich, the Nazis
are tracing the money
we used in Switzerland.
It's only a matter of time until
they find your fingerprints.
DIETRICH: You know
this to be true?
The Abwehr is lit
up with the search.
They don't know who they're
looking for yet, but they will.
This is your last chance, son.
Take it.
PAULA: I beg you, Dietrich.
I beg you, please.
You will travel as
Elgin Beckenbauer.
HANS: Hitler would be
coming to view the armory
at Zeughaus,
and we've arranged for
Rudy to be his guide.
You will have a glass
vial in each coat pocket.
Once you break them,
the fuze is lit and you
will have ten minutes
until detonation.
This is a trigger that
cannot be unpulled.
Not just for Rudy,
but for all of us
in the Resistance.
RUDY: I'm honored to be chosen.
If I could die twice
for my country, I would.
I won't stop speaking
until the world knows
why we've done
what we had to do.
TRESCKOW: Pastor
Bonhoeffer, would you pray?
DIETRICH: God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Thank you for your
faithful servant,
Rudolf-Christopher.
And though what we are
about to embark upon
feels utterly alien,
it also feels precisely what
you have called us to do.
So guide our hands.
Guide our trembling hands.
DIETRICH: Frank.
FRANK: Finally
got you back home.
Shall we drop the suitcase
and take this town like
it needs to be taken?
I need to make a stop first.
And I need your full attention.
Come.
Go on now.
I didn't come to
hear you rehearse
how to shuffle papers.
Nine years ago,
I learned in this very building
that faith without action
is no faith at all.
[suspenseful music]
DIETRICH: And I've returned
to tell you, and
anyone who will listen,
that the time to rescue
the Jews of Europe,
and to end the madness of a man
who has dared to
call himself a god,
is now.
But how?
How can we act when we face
this kind of terror,
this kind of despair?
Because all our Savior
ever asked of Peter was...
follow Me.
Two words.
But where does
Christ bid us follow?
And can we set
aside all our plans
and do as He says?
Because when Christ
calls a man, He bids him,
Come and die.
RUDY: More than a thousand
Vickers machine guns
captured from France.
Every Hotchkiss M that
Belgium surrendered.
And countless T-26 tanks
from the fall of Kharkov.
These are your spoils from
more than a dozen countries
brought to their knees
by your strength alone.
Europe is burning.
In Kiev, Nazi killing
squads shot dead.
33,000 Jews in two days.
That's how far the
devil has gone.
But...
how far have you gone?
Most courage is wasted,
Herr Gersdorff.
Don't you agree?
All the way to the cross?
Because beyond the cross
is the resurrected life.
And that's the place to
which He calls each of us
since before the
beginning of time.
So...
Will you follow me?
[music intensifies]
Will you follow Him...
all the way to the cross?
REV POWELL: All the way to
the cross. Right, Dietrich?
Yes, sir. Yes.
Only problem,
Your cross isn't in America yet.
It's in Germany.
I too remember understanding
what I was preaching
only the moment the
words left my mouth.
DIETRICH: Reverend,
I'm not running away.
I'm running towards.
That's fair enough.
Towards what?
And where...
where is your finish line?
[phone rings]
HANS: Dietrich? DIETRICH:
Is this a clear line?
The only one left.
Hans...
I'm coming home.
- You can't.
- I thought we decided...
God didn't agree
and neither do I.
Is it done?
No.
No. The fuze was lit,
but Hitler sensed something.
He was gone before the
work could be finished.
- Gersdorff?
- Is alive.
Somehow. A miracle.
But we need help from
England. From Churchill.
And there's no safe
means of reaching him.
- Have you asked for help?
- HANS: Yes.
Another bomb, two if necessary.
But our communications are down.
He may be standing by,
ready to light our fuze,
but there is no way of knowing.
Now, listen, my ship
stops in London first.
I know Bishop Bell
would help me.
I don't want you coming home
to be arrested or worse.
I want to.
Hans...
I'm coming home.
London is crawling
with Nazi spies.
They're watching everywhere.
Good.
I like getting away.
[dramatic music]
BRIT: Wait here.
Why write what no one reads?
BISHOP BELL: Your
books have been read
more than you know, my friend.
DIETRICH: So, please tell
me England will listen.
He cannot provide
the bomb you request.
Cannot or will not.
Churchill sees
Germany as a whole.
Says he can't afford
to see the small
threads in the tapestry
when the whole
cloth is Nazi brown.
There is gold amidst
the dark, my friend.
We cannot be forgotten
or burned with the rest.
I gave it everything,
reputation included.
He's afraid that a bomb
traced to England would mean
invasion or worse.
DIETRICH: Invasion? Invasion?
My country was
invaded from within!
Does Churchill know
what that feels like?
And please don't tell
me you agree with him.
Of course not.
I bent his ear and his
heart till breaking.
Nothing.
God doesn't always give
answers, my friend.
But He always gives Himself.
And you are here. You are safe.
Oh, my safety is a prison.
I'll return to Berlin
unarmed but full-hearted.
Now, look, are you
sure you won't stay?
Your voice could be louder
than loud from our pulpits.
I've learned, finally, Bishop,
that people don't hear what
is shouted from the pulpit
as much as they hear what
is whispered in the street.
My prayers go with you, my son.
Then pray what I pray.
For the defeat of Germany.
HANS: You shouldn't
have come home.
I had to.
To tell me Churchill
has turned his back?
You could have done
that from London
and then gone and lived a life.
It isn't over yet, my friend.
What are we going
to do, Dietrich?
England was our last chance.
And don't say pray.
GESTAPO: Faster now.
Moving on into the bus.
- Straight lines.
- Moving all the way in.
- Faster now!
- Moving all the way in.
DIETRICH: No, no, please.
[Speaking in German]
GESTAPO: We have
13 bodies to fit.
DR. RASCHER: What do you
think, Herr Bonhoeffer?
Why this traveling circus?
And the Allies are
getting closer.
Perhaps they want some
prisoners alive to barter with.
You've been praying
for a rescue.
I hear you in the
middle of the night.
What if your God fails
you this one last time?
[speaking in German]
KNOBLAUCH: Take the Bible.
Thank you.
KNOBLAUCH: There will
be absolute silence.
No talking.
[car door slams shut]
[engine revs]
PAULA: No. No. No.
[speaking in German]
Here I am.
HOBLE: Halt!
What has become of the church
when a pastor has
turned into an assassin?
DIETRICH: If a driver were
running over children,
would it not be everyone's
responsibility to stop it?
PUNDER: Dietrich?
What is it, friend?
Knoblauch wanted to warn.
It happens at dawn.
He asked to see you.
He said it has to be now.
KNOBLAUCH: We only have a few
moments, but I can help you.
You don't have to end this way.
I have a spare uniform,
nearly your size.
I have food coupons and money.
We walk out together
after sunset.
Just two guards headed
into the village.
Tonight.
It is not too late.
There's an old
railway overgrown,
where a car won't even be heard.
I can't escape.
What? Why? You deserve to.
We all deserve to.
But I wouldn't make
it out of Germany.
My family would be killed.
You and your family.
Listen, every act of
courage carries a cost.
I made my choice 12 years ago,
long before I knew
what it would mean,
and I've been chased ever since.
But now...
I'm ready to meet my destiny.
[somber music]
DIETRICH: Once upon a
time, I was a pastor.
KOKORIN: Will you
be our pastor today?
I will.
The Lord Jesus, on the
night he was betrayed,
took bread,
and when he had given thanks,
he broke it and said,
This...
is my body,
which is broken...
This is the body...
for you.
For our Lord Jesus Christ.
'Do this for the
remembrance of me.'
BEST: We can't allow...
It is not our table.
It is the Lord's,
And He has invited us all.
Lift your head.
This is the body of our Lord.
'This is my blood,
spilled for you.
Do this whenever you drink it
for the remembrance of me.'
[eerie music]
DIETRICH: For me,
this is not the end...
but the beginning of life.
GESTAPO: Bonhoeffer,
to the gallows.
DIETRICH: You will get
these to my mother.
I know you will.
Tell her I couldn't
find a strawberry,
but my words did.
[wind blowing]
GESTAPO: Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
for money laundering
and your role
in the conspiracy to
assassinate the Fhrer
on July 20th,
you're sentenced to
death by hanging.
[Knoblauch cries]
DIETRICH: Blessed
are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed...
are the pure in heart,
For they shall see...
God.
[Bonhoeffer hangs]