Luther Movie Review

The lights go down and the screen stays black. The pounding noise of thunder grows louder. The screen flashes with a burst of lightning, and we see a man running across an open field. Bolts of lightning crash all around. The man falls face down in mud, crying out in terror, “Save me, St. Anne. I’ll become a monk. Save me! Save me!”

So begins Luther, the new movie on the life of the Reformer. After the storm, we see Luther as a monk, and then the movie moves to Luther celebrating his first mass, trembling in fear at the moment of consecrating the elements of Holy Communion. The movie continues with scene after scene in the life of the younger Luther.

The years covered are July 1505 to June 1530. This is the greatest challenge for the movie. It may also be a chief criticism of it. How is it possible to fit these twenty-five tumultuous years into a space of less than two hours? Is there too much to make sense? What has to be left out? One can only imagine the agonizing decisions that had to be made in the process.

The movie is stunning, dramatic, powerful, and beautiful. For a Lutheran, the movie is intensely emotional. The movie takes a few liberties with the sequence of certain events and even some details, for the sake of making sense out of things for the viewer. Where the movie does portray an actual event and relate actual details, the level of fidelity to the actual history is remarkable and powerful.

The acting is very well done by the lead, Joseph Fiennes, who portrays Luther as a young monk, gaunt from his monastic life, profoundly intense and passionate about the spiritual care of souls, both his own and others. Those who play supporting roles in the film do a very fine job. All are very authentic and believable, communicating through voice and expression, the entire range of human experience.

Does the Gospel come through in this movie? Absolutely, yes. Would I have appreciated more? Yes, absolutely. Let me hasten to add that it was breathtaking to hear the Gospel come through as clearly as it did, when it did. A major Hollywood distributor said that he loved the movie and wanted to distribute it, except for one condition. He asked for all the “Christ stuff” to be taken out. It wasn’t. Thank goodness.

The movie shows Luther’s progress in realizing how, in Christ, God is a loving heavenly Father, not the harsh judge who is appeased only though a Christian’s works. I would have appreciated a bit more than what the movie did, but I can not help but be thankful for the Gospel that is in the movie. There is no question that it is Christ whom Luther discovered.

Luther does a marvelous job portraying the problems of the church in the 16th century; the scenes of Luther’s visit to Rome and then the selling of indulgences by Tetzel are absolutely brilliant. They use a fictitious woman and her child to bring home the personal impact of the sale of indulgences and Luther’s very pastoral response.

The costumes, location work, and cinema photography are stunning. The historical accuracy is also impressive. For example, Lucas Cranach’s paintings are seen in the elector’s palace. The relics on display are very authentic-looking; the costumes show the stark contrast between the “haves” and the “havenots.” Those who are aware of these details will appreciate the depth of detail in the movie. The movie was filmed on many locations throughout Europe and therefore has a level of realism and authenticity that is very impressive.

The movie shows Luther’s multifaceted personality, warts and all. The depth of his spiritual anguish is shown in disturbing reality as he writhes in spiritual, emotional and mental torment, contemplating a God whom He can never make love Him and a Devil constantly seeking to devour him. It is painful to watch. But then we see the bold, confident man of faith, clinging to the Word, standing up courageously for what the Word of God teaches about Christ and salvation. The movie ends with a dramatic portrayal of the courage of the princes of the German territories at Augsburg informing Emperor Charles V of their decision to defend the teachings of Luther.

Luther has been assigned the rating of PG-13. The scenes of death in the movie are graphic.There are no battle sequences, but the results of the peasant war are graphically presented, along with several images of hangings. This is not a movie for younger children, nor should it be. The portrayal of violence is necessary to show just how powerful an impact the results of Luther’s work and its misinterpretation were.

This reviewer left the movie theater inspired, uplifted and profoundly moved by the power of this movie. It encouraged me to dig more deeply into Luther’s writings, and Luther biographies. It brought many aspects of the man Luther to life and lifted him from a cold printed page to a living, human reality.

Luther will be released this fall, September 26, in 400 theatres, in 55 major urban areas across the country, with more to come throughout the rest of the year.

Rev. Paul McCain is the Interim President and CEO of Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri.This review appeared first on Pastor McCain’s e-newsletter list “Cyberbrethren.” Used by permission.

All photographs by Rolf von der Heydt for “Luther.” ©2003 Neue Filmproduktion Teleart GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin, Germany