Short Review: Who said nothing good ever came out of a German rally?


Veteran television director Eric Till's film of Martin Luther’s life is a patient character piece well worth the effort. Till (Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace) could have blown over the details of Luther’s story and concentrated on the violent aftermath – I believe most filmmakers would have gone this way. Thankfully, he concentrates on the characters and their lives. When the violence of Luther's revolution does come, it is tempered by the motives of the parties involved thus giving it a dimension lesser films would have ignored.

Luther is one of those uncommon films that is conscious of its subject matter and the seriousness of its content. A lesser film would have found cause to be little more than an anti-Catholic rant. While most Catholics won’t be overly enamored with the story, I believe many will agree that the church was fairly represented.

The film makes certain to show the abuses from which Martin Luther and his followers rebelled. Till has the respect however to keep those issues from staining the whole Catholic religion. I found this surprising. In many cases, films showing a hero who stands alone against a monolithic enemy (e.g. Hero against church, Hero against state, Hero against corporation) will only allow the humanity of the Hero to be revealed. The massive organization is a blind evil beast that must be stopped. We have seen this for decades (watch any Spielberg film.) In Luther, the Catholic Church as an organization is not the problem – the political and financial desire members are the issues. Moreover, we are shown that the members of The Reformation were also power hungry. This film’s presentation of the humanity within the monolithic organization is striking. How often do we see films where a corporation is the bad player, but there is also the admission that the organization still has the possibly doing good works? Here we are shown that the oppression and evil are results of the choices of INDIVIDUALS acting on behalf of a larger group. This is a rare thing to see.

The film is well acted by Joseph Fiennes, Claire Cox and Jonathan Firth. Fiennes is a great choice for Luther. He pulls off the almost nerdy, yet passionate, monk. I was fond of his ability to show us a man who, while on a crusade against his superiors, is scared to death knowing they could squish him at any time. To profess the truth of Jesus Christ in the face of martyrdom is a demand of all Christians. To be confronted with it is unimaginable for most Americans. In my opinion, this is the most important element of the film and Fiennes is commanding in his scenes where he is forced betray his fears and tell the truth.

Claire Cox is a wonderful pick as well and I look forward to seeing more of her work. Her role of Katharina von Bora is small but she makes good work of it. Jonathan Firth and Alfred Molina also offer strong supporting work in this piece.

Overall, I recommend this film. I strongly suggest it to Christians who will find this to be a tall glass of water in a desert of Christian films. If all Christian films took the time to show Christianity through character and not bromides such as this film does, we would all be the better for it.


Related Reviews:
Christian films
The Last Sin Eater (2007)
Left Behind (2000)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Mark Reviews Movies
Hollywood Jesus




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Labels: Alfred Molina, Bruno Ganz, Claire Cox, film, Jonathan Firth, Joseph Fiennes, movie review, Peter Ustinov