Director of ‘Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin,’ Formerly an Atheist, Hopes Film Inspires ‘Bravery’

Angel Studios‘ highly anticipated film, “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin,” releases in theaters today.

The film stars Jonas Dassler, (“The Golden Glove,” “Never Look Away”), August Diehl (“Inglourious Basterds,” “The King’s Man,” “Salt”), and David Jonsson (“Alien: Romulus”) and tells the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

The description of the movie reads:

As the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is swept into the epicenter of a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler. With his faith and fate at stake, Bonhoeffer must choose between upholding his moral convictions or risking it all to save millions of Jews from genocide. Will his shift from preaching peace to plotting murder alter the course of history or cost him everything?

Director Todd Komarnicki (“Elf,” “Sully”), who was once an atheist, shared with ChurchLeaders that God inspired him to bring the story of Bonhoeffer to the silver screen.

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Komarnicki described “the relentlessness, what I call the hound of heaven,” in which “God is going to have his way with me any which way” he desires.

“And that was ‘Bonhoeffer’ for me,” Komarnicki said.

Komarnicki said that he “set out to make a spiritual thriller, not a period piece.” He wanted to make “a page turner” type of film because Bonhoeffer’s life was “page turning.”

“It’s a Garden of Gethsemane movie, where the person at the very edge of fulfilling his destiny is asked, first from within and then from without, what if this cup passed from me?” Komarnicki added. “And that’s the kind of faith I found inside of the Bonhoeffer that I met.”