Luther
by Eric Till
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DVD details
Actor: Alfred Molina, Bruno Ganz, Jonathan Firth, Joseph Fiennes, Peter UstinovDirector: Eric Till
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Producer: Alexander Thies
Producer: Brigitte Rochow
Producer: Christian P. Stehr
Producer: Dennis A. Clauss
Producer: Franz Thies
Writer: Bart Gavigan
Writer: Camille Thomasson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Latin (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 123 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-30
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Luther
DVD Review: Surprisingly Faithful Account
Summary: 4 Stars
Wow, here's an oddity: a modern-day film faithful to theological history, an uncompromising biography of Martin Luther.
Knowing the film world, I doubt this film was made to glorify God. It probably was made more to make the Roman Catholic church look bad, or to glorify a rebel and a man of the people: "the peoples' liberation" as the back cover of the DVD states.
Whateverthe motive, it stays true to history and it's nice to see that for a change. To those unfamiliar with Luther, he was the founder of the Protestant denomination. Luther was a monk who saw and heard things he thought were unscriptural and broke off from the Catholic Church in "protest." Hence, the "Protestant" church was formed.
Anyway, not only was the story done well, so was the cinematography. This is one gorgeous movie to ogle, well-filmed with high production values. The scenery, sets and costumes are all first-rate.
Joseph Fiennes (Luther) is a bit wimpy-looking but his character certainly isn't. As the subject of indulgences and other practices begin to transform Luther's ideas of what Jesus' church should be, the story grows in intensity as Luther gets pressured by the Catholic hierarchy as his protest issues become public.
What happens to him and to the masses because of his actions are revealed in pretty dramatic form. Obviously the story is far more complex than two hours can give it but the filmmakers did a pretty good job condensing it to make the time constriction.
Notes: This was Peter Ustinov's last movie. On the DVD, being that is was a fairly expensive one, I am surprised there were no "extras." In all, however, a solid film but it will definitely offend Roman Catholics.
DVD Review: Excellent historical eye-opener
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie "Luther" with Joseph Fiennes, is a fabulous portrayal of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500's when Martin Luther became confused over it's doctrine and rebelled as a monk, which started the Protestant Reformation. It is very well done and a historical perspective for those interested in the growth of Christianity after the death of Christ and the Apostles. It should be seen by anyone who is trying to follow Christianity.DVD Review: Who is this guy? Not the Reformer history knows!
Summary: 1 Stars
Basic advice: Do not believe this movie; do not buy this movie; and above all, do not buy into what this movie would have you believe about Martin Luther. As a life-long Lutheran who has studied Luther and the Reformation both academically and personally for over thirty years, I cannot recognize the historical Luther at all in this "dramatized biography" film. What you will find here is a Luther that a certain sort of American Lutherans wish Luther had been like: a good Liberal Protestant with all the politically correct knee-jerk reactions properly in place, with a romantic, raw, wildly "prophetic" personality like any proper social-justice advocate should have (mixed in with a heavy dose of what is clearly manic depression/bi-polar disorder that is way out of control; that Luther suffered from bouts of severe depression all his life is true, and documented by Luther himself as well as his friends and colleagues; that he was the raving lunatic portrayed in this film is straight out of the psycho-babble of Erik Erickson and the playwrite Eric Osborne, disproved and debunked fifty years ago).
On the positive side: I was much impressed by the detailed historical accuracy of the background. The movie shows what life in the 16th century looked like, what people of different social ranks and classes wore, even how people danced at social events. The actor who plays Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is a dead ringer for the emperor in pictures of him from 1519, when he ascended the imperial throne. The same is true of the actor playing Pope Leo X. The movie goes out of its way to show the people and places that surrounded Luther as realistically as possible.
Except for Martin Luther himself! That sexy, dashing, romantic little beard just gnawed at me. For his whole life, Luther was clean-shaven. The only time he grew a beard was as a disguise when hiding under the protection of Elector Frederick the Wise at the Wartburg Castle after the Diet of Worms in 1521. When Luther returned to public life at Wittenburg in 1522, he shaved the beard and stayed clean-shaven. Every existing picture of Luther -- except for the painting of him done at the Wartburg -- shows him clean-shaven. So who cares? Hollywood always takes liberties like that. I care, because everything about this movie hammers away at the viewer to convince him or her that this is 100% historically true and accurate. That Luther did not look like this -- he was not a sexy, handsome, dashing, romantic swashbuckling hero -- points to the more important fact: Luther did not think or teach like this fantasy-character in the movie, either.
The movie does not merely get Luther's theology wrong in some precise and technical, intellectually "heavy" ways. The movie grossly misrepresents the whole of Luther's theology as thoroughly "modern" and the origin of "liberal," "personal," "interior" religious "freedom." Again, that is what some Lutherans wish Luther had taught; but you will not find a trace of it in Luther's actual writings.
Worst of all, though, is the blatantly undisguised anti-Roman Catholic bigotry of this movie. Luther is portrayed as the "father of Protestantism" who "liberated" true, biblical, free Christian faith from the "tyranny of the pope." All the Catholic characters -- Pope Leo X, Cardinal Cajetan, John Tetzel, even annonymous monks, friars and priests -- are all two-dimensional cardboard cut-out targets for Luther to shoot down. They are all corrupt, immoral, hypocritical, liars, legalists, money-grubbing and power-mad. Some are brutes, some are oily snakes, some are Mafia dons (particularly Pope Leo X), some are simpering sycophants. But there is not a good Catholic in the bunch. Even Luther's mentor, Johann von Staupitz, his superior in the Augustinian order (and in reality a supporter and source of inspiration for Luther), turns out to be a weak-willed coward who crumbles to dust in the face of pressure from papal power, abandoning Luther at the Diet of Augsburg in 1518. The fundamental message and moral of this movie is: Protestantism true and good; Roman Catholicism false and evil.
This is the great vice and evil of this movie -- beyond its dismal record of historical accuracy beyond superficial appearance and costume. The movie is not an honest or even admiring biography of Luther; it is venial Lutheran self-promoting propaganda. It is hate-mongering toward Roman Catholics and Roman Catholicism. It is a vicious and coldly calculating parody and exploitation of the real Luther. It is not only or merely a very bad movie; it is a thoroughly wicked movie just below the surface.
This movie has no truth to it about the historical Luther or what the real Lutheran Reformation was about. That it was produced with money from Thrivent -- the Lutheran Church's fraternal benefits insurance agency -- with the endorsement, approval and encouragement of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (which publicized it to all its congregations and commended it for all its members to see), is a very sad chapter indeed of this declining mainline, oldline, sideline Protestant denomination.
DVD Review: Luther
Summary: 5 Stars
Luther is a movie made the events surrounding the reformation. IMHO, the movie is excellent. DVD Review: Luther
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful cast... very believable. Terrific service to know this historical perspective. I would buy more of this type from this company.
Description of Luther
Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) stars as Martin Luther, the brilliant man of God whose defiant actions changed the world, in this epic, ravishingly beautiful (The New York Times)film that traces Luther's extraordinary and exhilarating quest for the people's liberation. Regional princes and the powerful Church wield a fast, firm and merciless grip on 16th-century Germany. But when Martin Luther issues a shocking challenge to their authority, the people declare him their new leaderand hero. Even when threatened with violent death, Luther refuses to back down, sparkinga bloody revolution that shakes the entire continent to its core.Like The Passion of the Christ, Luther is the story of a spiritual leader, German monk Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes), in opposition to the religious orthodoxy of the time (in his case, the 1500s). His goal--to bring God to the people and to take money, fear, and shame out of the equation--made him a reformer to some, a heretic to others. Released around the same time as Mel Gibson's blockbuster, it failed to attract the same degree of attention--or controversy. Granted, it's a different film, but not radically so. Directed by Eric Till (Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace), Luther isn't always easy to follow or as emotionally involving as it could be. That said, it's a fascinating story and Fiennes receives solid support from Alfred Molina (Frida), Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire), and the late Sir Peter Ustinov (Spartacus), in his final film role, as Frederick the Wise. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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