the movie "LUTHER"

[PACKY]

I just got done watching this movie, I think it was well made and well done. I suggest it to anyone. has anyone else seen it? comments?

[Rechtgläubig]

I just got done watching this movie, I think it was well made and well done. I suggest it to anyone. has anyone else seen it? comments?

I saw it. It's OK... if you're into that sort of thing...


:D

[Protoevangel]

Good movie. I would have liked it to have been a couple of hours longer, though.

Maybe a second and third movie would be in order?
Luther 2 "The Empire Striles Back"
Luther 3 "The Return of the Reformers"

... Or maybe not...

[AngelusSax]

LOL

I just imagined Luther in a space fighter jet, shooting at someone called Darth Pope....

[Protoevangel]

LOL

I just imagined Luther in a space fighter jet, shooting at someone called Darth Pope....<<raspy breath sound>>
"Luther... I am you father... ^_^

[IowaLutheran]

I liked the movie, although I would think that someone with little or no knowledge of Luther would have a very hard time following along.

Speaking of Star Wars, maybe they should have had a Star Wars-style beginning with a written narrative rolling across the screen to explain what was going on. Instead of "It was a dark time for the Galactic Empire", it could be "It was a dark time for the Holy Roman Empire".

[pastel]

I just bought a DVD of Martin Luther starring Niall MacGinnis, an old version that was probably made in the 1940s (I'm guessing). It seems to be a good one, but there are a few facts I want to look up that was brought out in the movie that I didn't know about.

[Tetzel]

I liked it too. Rented it last week

[VeryTiredGirl]

Saw it twice. Once in theatre, and once at church with my pastor giving extra information about the politics and people of the time.

The first time was very good, but the second time was even better, because I was better able to understand exactly what was happening during that era in history.

[cenimo]

There's two scenes that really stand out....right after Luther had talked a young mother into not buying any more indulgences and using the money spent to feed her daughter, officials from the Catholic church are sitting at a table tallying up the take.
One looks at the other and says something like, "That Luther, our take is two thirds off of what it usually is."

Then, towards the end of the movie, a church official lookas at another and says, "That Luther, he would have made a great Pope but he married that renegade nun."

[SPALATIN]

There's two scenes that really stand out....right after Luther had talked a young mother into not buying any more indulgences and using the money spent to feed her daughter, officials from the Catholic church are sitting at a table tallying up the take.
One looks at the other and says something like, "That Luther, our take is two thirds off of what it usually is."

Then, towards the end of the movie, a church official lookas at another and says, "That Luther, he would have made a great Pope but he married that renegade nun."

I highly doubt that was said, but it makes for great dialogue in the movie.

[Willo]

Good movie. I would have liked it to have been a couple of hours longer, though.

Maybe a second and third movie would be in order?
Luther 2 "The Empire Striles Back"
Luther 3 "The Return of the Reformers"

... Or maybe not...

Loved the movie, and love your suggestions ;)

[PACKY]

This movie would be great to use for youth ministries and young adult bible classes.

[Tertiumquid]

I just got done watching this movie, I think it was well made and well done. I suggest it to anyone. has anyone else seen it? comments?

Hi There,
I posted this previously on a similar thread.

I saw the Luther movie on its opening day last year, so my memory on all the particulars is a little fuzzy at this point. Overall, I greatly enjoyed the movie. Luther is my favorite theologian, and watching an entire movie portraying him was a treat.

On the other hand, there were a few historical problems with the movie. Here is a fairly well balanced review by the Lutheran scholar Rev. Dr. Eric W. Gritsch:

"Though well directed, acted and dramatically impressive, some caution needs to be exercised when the film might be used for education based on historical evidence. There is always room for “dramatic license”, but when dealing with such influential historical figures as Martin Luther a fundamental loyalty to historical facts must be preserved. I only focus on some basic facts which have been ignored, indeed abused, in the sequence of portraying Luther as a man who changed world history, as the film correctly assumes.

1. Luther’s first celebration of the Mass revealed his great anxiety about the priestly power to bring Christ from heaven to the altar. He wanted to leave the altar, but was signaled by his prior to continue. There is no evidence that he spilled the wine. Moreover, his father attended with many members of the family, gave 20 guilders as a gift to the monastery and, despite some criticism of Luther for becoming a monk rather than a lawyer, the father stayed and enjoyed the celebration. He did not leave after a public outburst of anger, as the film alleges.

2. The Uprising of the Peasants made Luther so angry that he called for their killing as a divine mandate since the peasants identified the freedom in the gospel with violent liberation from their feudal landlords. About 5000 peasants were finally massacred in the so-called battle of Frankenhausen, Saxony; their “noble” opponents lost six men. The spiritual leader of the rebellious peasants in Saxony was not Carlstadt, but Thomas Müntzer who was executed. All rebellious peasants in German territories numbered about 60.000. About 6000 were killed, not 100.000 or more, as the film alleges.

3. The Augsburg Confession was developed and drafted by Melanchthon who met with and was supported by princes and other officials. Luther met with princes a year after the Diet of Augsburg, in 1531 at Smalcald when supporters founded the military Smalcald League to defend themselves against Catholic attacks. Luther never met with princes in connection with the Augsburg Confession and had no leading role in its production, as the film alleges.

4. Luther and Frederick the Wise had only a relationship through Spalatin in order to protect the prince from any accusation of personal contact with the heretical professor. Consequently, Luther never saw him (except from a distance at the Diet of Worms in 1521). The moving scene of Luther handing his prince the German Bible never took place, as the film alleges.

5. Luther at the Wartburg is the one part of his life when he agreed to hide, indeed change his appearance by being disguised as a German knight known as “Squire George” (“Junker Jörg”). While it is not necessary to show Luther with beard and knightly dress (though it would have enhanced the film), it is important that he returned to Wittenberg on his own, against the orders of Frederick the Wise. The prince did not issue a call for his return, as the film alleges.

Other minor historical flaws could be pointed out, such as the use of a legend that his spouse “Katie” had been smuggled in herring barrels with other nuns into Wittenberg. It is uncertain where the nuns were hidden during their secret journey. Some sources talk about empty barrels, others add “herring”. But no Luther scholar has confirmed the “smelly” part of the story.

Instead of highlighting a legend, the film could have portrayed in some fashion one of the most dramatic events in Luther’s career, the Leipzig Debate on July 4, 1519 with John Eck—the only occasion when he was granted his wish for a free, scholarly disputation. The American audience would have enjoyed this “Fourth of July” event in Luther’s life.

It should have been easy to receive some expert technical advice for the production of such a significant film which, after all, was sponsored by Lutherans in the United States and in Germany. History itself is a powerful medium. In the case of Luther, the historical facts themselves are just as dramatic as any film maker could make them through “dramatic license” without much concern for historicity.


The Rev. Eric W. Gritsch, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Church History
Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary
First Director of the Institute for Luther Studies (1961-94)
Member of the International Congress for Luther Research
Director of the Forum for German Culture
Zion Church of the City of Baltimore


Interestingly, the Luther DVD I think includes sub-titles. I think I may actually have caught an error, even without seeing the DVD. On another board, a Lutheran friend asked this question from the movie, based on the sub-titles:

In the recent movie, Luther meets with Cardinal Cajetan. He mentions UNIGENTIUS, a papal bull issued by Clement XI and he says it conflicts with ANOMITANOS. I can locate UNIGENTIUS but ANOMITANOS is nowhere to be found. Is my spelling correct? Anyone know what this is?

If one read through Luther's Works 31, "Proceedings at Augsburg", Luther gives a detailed account of his meeting with Cajetan. For the most part, Luther's claim is that Unigentius is unsupported by Scripture. One has to continually stand amazed at how Luther keeps trying to bring his contemporaries back to Scripture!

At one point though, Luther says:

"Furthermore, how many early decretals are corrected by later ones! Therefore in time this decretal can also be corrected. Panormitanus, too, in his edition of the Decretals, shows that in matters of faith not only is a general council above the pope, but also any believer, provided he uses better authority or reason than the pope, just as Paul does with Peter in Gal. 2<:14>."

note what Luther refers to: Panormitanus. Panormitanus was "Nicholas of Tudesco, archbishop of Palermo, whose lectures on the Decretals Luther prized highly" according to a footnote in LW 31. Thus, Panormitanus is not a decretal, but a person. If my friends' copying down of the sub-title is accurate, their reference to "ANOMITANOS" should actually be "Panormitanus".

~James Swan~

http://www.ntrmin.org/rccorner-reformation.htm (http://www.ntrmin.org/rccorner-reformation.htm)