Luther (2003): Movie Review

Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes), became a monk at a Catholic Monastery, after a close call with death in a lightning storm, where he promised God that if he survived the storm, he would commit his life to serving God. After a visit to Rome, Luther is disgusted by the corruption within the leading officials of the church, in particular the sale of “indulgences” which, in short, could buy forgiveness. Upon returning to the monastery, his priestly father decides to send him away to Wittenburg to study ’the word of God', where Martin is a dedicated student, and sees first hand what the bible says about things, and sees even clearer the corruption, and errors of the church. After one particular incident with corruption, Luther writes an essay on the 95 things wrong with the church entitled “95 Theses” and nailed it to the church door. Luther is called a heretic, and ordered to recant, but won’t, and ensues an uprising by the people against the church. While in hiding Luther translates the latin bible into German, so that all could have access to the world of God. And when Luther finds out about the violent uprising, he manages to stop the killing, but not before 100,000 peasants were killed. And he inspires the princes of Germany to stand up to their emperor Charles on behalf of the word of God in German, and they are successful.

For me some highlights from the film were;

1. How ‘human’ Martin was. The film shows him, especially in the beginning, as a man in turmoil. "Fighting with his demons”. He longed for closeness to God, and his earthly father, but wasn’t sure if God was the loving father he so desperately needed him to be. His own relationship with his father was strained and uneasy, and he desperately wanted to make his father proud, but during his ‘first mass’, he spilled the cup, and brought shame on himself and his family and his father left upset. Martin’s response to his failure was that he wasn’t holy enough to perform mass. And he says to his priestly father that he saw God as an angry God who wanted to damn us to hell for punishment. His father responds by telling him to cling to Christ, and commit himself to Christ and ask Jesus to save him. Later in the movie, Martin is faced with another challenge and his father shows up, and we see him respond by stating that acceptance from God is all that matters, not acceptance from man. And ironically enough, Martin receives a measure of comfort and love from his biological father.

2. Some of the consumer language that was circulating and used at that time to ‘sell’ the ideas of indulgences and ‘holy pilgrimages’ to Rome and to see the holy relics of saints who have gone before. Some language that really stood out to me was;

• When a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.

• Do you have a coin for christ?

Martin’s response to this was;

• Christ is not in pilgrimages to holy places, he is every corner, in us, in our acts of love and service to one another.

PERSONAL IMPACT

Martin’s view of God really started to change when he was able to sit and read the scriptures for himself. He experienced God first hand and was able to see God differently. And in this conflict of what he saw in the church, and what he saw as the God of the bible, he was willing to stand for change.

His priestly father addressed him at one stage saying

“You are tearing the world apart”

And Martin replies,

“When you sent me out that courageous day to change the world, did you think there wouldn’t be a cost?”

And for me, I hope that I will have that same courage, in the face of my own humanity, to stand up against the injustices and the corruption in the spheres of influence God places me, and ‘count the cost’. Would I stand if I was the only one? Martin was willing to die rather than turn his back on the truth and convictions he held, knowing it would affect the generations to come. I hope I can show this courage in the midst of my weakness and frailty as a human being. By the grace of God.