July 16, 2003

Greetings Cyberbrethren,

I wanted to get this to you as soon as possible, so forgive me for
rambling a bit in this review, and any typos.

Review of the Movie "Luther"

The lights go down and the screen stays black. Then there is the pounding
noise of thunder, growing louder and louder, the screen lights up with a
burst of lightening, and we see a man running across an open field. The
bolts of lightening crash all around and one strikes the ground right
next to him. He falls face down in mud, crying out in absolute terror,
"Save me, St. Anne. I'll become a monk. Save me! Save me!" It is so
realistic you feel like ducking under your seat and making a few
promises of your own. So begins "Luther" the new movie on the life of
the Reformer. It will be released this Fall, September 26, in 300
theatres, in 55 major urban areas across the country, with more to come
following throughout the rest of the year.

From the storm, we see Luther becoming a monk, then it 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. It pulls you in and
keeps the drama and action moving to the very end.

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.

This is my only concern with the movie. Is it too much for the audience
to follow? I am concerned that in fact so much is packed in that the
movie might tend to be a bit confusing. I may very well be wrong.
Various focus groups of all ages indicated how they were thoroughly
captivated by the movie and consider it dramatic, moving and exciting.
One young lady of 22 said that she can't wait to see it again and will
gladly pay to do so this time. Another person involved in distributing
films professionally in Hollywood, California said after seeing the
movie, "This is the Lutheran Braveheart!"

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. I come away in awe at the
level of detail and historical accuracy, far more than I expected or
even hoped for.

The acting is very well done by the lead, Joseph Fiennes, who portrays
Luther as a young monk and then younger man, 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 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, but he had one condition he had. He asked for
all the "Christ stuff" to be taken out. It wasn't. Thank goodness. I
appreciate how the movie revolves around the theological issues, and
doesn't make Luther out to be a social revolutionary or champion of free
speech or any of the assorted other misunderstandings of Luther that are
often offered up (PBS special!)

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
works of piety on the part of the faithful. 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.

The movie had to choose which major events leading to the Diet of
Augsburg to show. They therefore chose to leave out the Heidelburg
Disputation, the Leipzig Debate and did not deal with the Sacramentarian
controversy. I can't fault them for these decisions. Again and again,
when I think to criticize, I ask myself, "But what could they have done
in two hours that they didn't do?" I think the decisions on what to
feature and what not to include were, overall, wise. I'm not sure I
agree with a fictitious scene early in the movie, but for dramatic
effect, it was included.

This is a movie, not a documentary. That is a key point to keep in mind.
Ironically, however, it makes the Luther documentary broadcast on PBS
this summer look rather anemic, particularly, and most importantly, when
it comes to the articulation of the Gospel.

"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 cinemaphotography 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 "have nots." 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 the movie 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. Do we take matters this seriously? 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.

We can be thankful that the movie does not pander to "political
correctness" but shows the reality of those years and the faults and
failings of all concerned. Politicians are shown to be shrewd and wise,
but also men of faith and conviction. Peter Ustinov as Luther's faithful
defender, Elector Frederick is simply a delight. He masterfully shows
Frederic moving toward supporting Luther and then defending him and then
embracing his beliefs. The movie takes liberties with history to show
Luther meeting Frederick and presenting him a copy of the Bible in
German, a powerful moment in the film.

The movie has not yet been assigned a rating. One would imagine that it
will be a PG-13 movie. 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.

Luther is portrayed as uttering a vulgarity when in the midst of
spiritual torment, a term then that was very common. It may disturb some
to recognize just how human Luther was, but should it? This movie is
dealing with reality, not fantasy. I applaud the producers for showing
us just enough, but not too much. Some may disagree. The bottom line is
that if one is looking for a "G" rated movie, that presents an
idealized picture of things, one would be better served by sticking with
the 1950s era Luther movie in black and white. Reality in full color is
something quite better, in my opinion, in more ways than one.

Reflecting on the movie, it would be easy to quibble and find fault with
all sorts of things; however, does the movie deliver a dramatic and
engaging portrayal of Luther and his work? Yes. Does it articulate the
Gospel? Yes. Does it articulate it clearly enough? Perhaps not, nor as
often as we would like, but yet, clearly, it is Christ to whom Luther is
pointed and to whom He clings for hope and salvation. Christ is named and
is the focus of Luther's work. It is remarkable that they got the Gospel
as right as they did. Those looking for a "docu-drama" may be
disappointed, for there is simply no way a movie that is slightly less
than two hours can deliver that.

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. Of course, it is still a movie, but the
opportunity to view things in this manner has greatly increased my
interest in learning even more about Luther. I have spent most of my
professional life studying Luther and reading Luther and this movie did
not leave me disappointed. For those who know little about him, I am
sure they will be fascinated as well.

The goals of this movie were to provide a motion picture that would
attract interest and present a powerful moment in history, a moment of
high drama, with action and emotion to bring audiences in, and then,
once there, to give them a chance to meet Martin Luther, and have a
sense of what he went through. It is that interest that we can
capitalize on to help people learn more about Luther and his beautiful
exposition of the Gospel.

I am convinced that this movie really will open doors for people
interested in Lutheranism, wanting to learn more about Martin Luther,
his life and his work. What a great opportunity for Lutheran
congregations! It will provide a valuable tool for years to come to help
portray the essential truths of the Lutheran Reformation. Many thanks
are due Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for seeing this project through
to completion.

It will be released on DVD sometime in February 2004, after running its
course in the theatres in the USA and Europe.

Concordia Publishing House has a companion book that will be released in
the coming weeks, a very clear, direct and simple biography that will
fill in many gaps and articulate much more clearly the essential truths
the movie covers. I'll provide more information on that later.

Cordially in Christ,
Rev. Paul T. McCain
Concordia Publishing House
St. Louis, Missouri