Mining the Conceptual Gulf Between “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” and “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.”

Not all students of religious ethics are film buffs and not all film buffs indulge heavily in theory. This paper introduces students of religious ethics to insights gleaned from film theory to (1) better untangle what is at stake in the depiction of theological thinkers and (2) better ground their critiques of those cultural products. Observing the tension between art and commerce is a crucial first step to our work. Real art, according to Andrei Tarkovsky, is produced by the artist’s pursuit of truth. It is thus dialogical like Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. But commercial interests also drive cinema as a vehicle for entertainment. “What do filmgoers want,” asked D. W. Griffith: “A girl and a gun.” This understanding of spectacle informs how Angel Studios flattened the movie originally titled God’s Spy into the far more digestible Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.