LUTHER is the first American Film Theater (AFT) movie I've seen, and, according to the extras on this disk - especially a twenty minute interview with one of the producers - it's pretty representative of the dozen or so films put out in its two years of existence.
Stacy Keach plays the 16th century German monk turn church reformer in the 1973 big-screen adaptation of playwright John Osborne's LUTHER. The play follows the career of Luther from troubled novitiate to a questioning and critical priest to a somewhat settled old age. Osborne's LUTHER is a character study rather than a hard-edged chronicle of great events. That's not to say that LUTHER ignores totally the swirl of history surrounding the title character. Indeed, the play includes indulgence-selling priests and a diet in Worms met to insist that he, Luther, recant of his heresies. They're here in service of history and, more immediately, to provide the cause for Luther's rebellion.
And there's the rub. There's an intimacy to LUTHER that I'm sure works better on my five-inch Philco than it did on the big screen. Just as I'm sure it worked much better on the live stage. Although in a contemporary (2002) videotaped interview Edie Landau argues convincingly the merits of making movies out of stage plays, the results are mixed. The wife and business partner of the American Film Theatre founder Ely Landau, Edie Landau's 26-minute videotaped interview is a fascinating look behind the scenes of the AFT and the novel `subscription' concept that allowed them to film almost a dozen plays in its two-year existence. For all the highbrow appeal of an examination of the inner Luther, and even the strong performances by the cast, especially Keach, film demands action, while live theater rewards introspection. LUTHER is interesting, although not terribly involving. Paradoxically, although I haven't much desire to watch the movie again I would be the first in line if LUTHER is ever revived as a live stage play,
Luther, the man, his demons, and his reawakening
I remember seeing this movie in the local movie house and really enjoying it. Stacy Keach does an excellent job as Martin Luther as tortured soul and spiritual leader. When I first saw this film of the play, LUTHER, I enjoyed it because I love history. When I watched it about 5 years ago, as a practicing Roman Catholic, on VHS it made me appreciate and understand Luther, the man. And while I may not agree with Luther's theology, I am sympathetic to his search and understanding of God's grace. I especially like the way this film develops the relationship between Luther and his mentor, Fr. Johan Von Staupitz, who, by the way, never became a follower of Luther, remained in the Roman Catholic Church, and as a result was sent into a type of house exile by the Church, because of his relationship with the reformer.
If you like good acting, history, and a good story you will enjoy Luther.
Well-made but with an unwelcome Freudian take on our hero
There have been at least three big screen productions of the life of Martin Luther. 1953: classic black and white Martin Luther as hero; 2004: Martin Luther as rebel; and this production with the excellently cast Stacy Keach as Luther the psychoanalyzed. Keach does a great job and this is well told. The problem is that the psychoanalyzing gets in the way and seems dated. It ends with a bewildered Luther unsure of himself. This is worth seeing but I think it will, with time, seem like the dated product of an age briefly (thankfully, because Freud was proven wrong on almost every point) obsessed with Freud. It is a good thing that a movie about Luther was not made during the sex revolution or we would have had to see this brilliant doctor of the church reduced to his sexual desires. Luther was a genius, a great man, a man of courage and integrity, a great Christian, and one of the most important figures in Western history and culture. Three movies about his life do not seem enough.
Like The Passion of the Christ, Luther is the story of a spiritual leader, German monk Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes), in opposition to the religious orthodoxy of the time (in his case, the 1500s). His goal--to bring God to the people and to take money, fear, and shame out of the equation--made him a reformer to some, a heretic to others. Released around the same time as Mel Gibson's blockbuster, it failed to attract the same degree of attention--or controversy. Granted, it's a different film, but not radically so. Directed by Eric Till (Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace), Luther isn't always easy to follow or as emotionally involving as it could be. That said, it's a fascinating story and Fiennes receives solid support from Alfred Molina (Frida), Bruno Ganz... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Eric Till DVD Release Date: Released the 30 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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MARTIN LUTHER reminds me of the kind of movies they'd show us in junior high history classes. It's one of those `great events in the lives of the great" type movies, leapfrogging from one pivotal moment (Luther abandons his study of law to join an Augustan monastery) to another (nailing of the 95 theses on the door), more or less abandoning the subject's private life to our imagination. Irish actor Niall MacGinnis imparts the right amount of pious determination to the title character - he's quite good - the German locations are convincing and I assume the movie makers got the chronology correct.
I don't believe I know that much more about Luther than I did before I watched this movie, although MARTIN LUTHER clarified and focused the issues - Luther's rebellion stemmed from the... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Irving Pichel DVD Release Date: Released the 20 August 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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These were Dietrich Bonhoeffer's last words before he was hanged, naked, on a gallows of the evil Nazi regime (sadly, only weeks before his concentration camp was liberated by the Allies in WWII).
This 90 min. 12 chapters DVD is a documentary-styled film about the life and writings of a person called Dietrich Bonhoeffer. (The other reviewers did a good job at presenting his background).
This DVD can be enjoyed by Christians and non-Christians alike.
A legacy of God's grace, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor, theologian, university professor, anti-Nazi conspirator, and martyr who detected early on the evils of a new monster rising amidst his germanic countrymen (Adolf Hitler as Fuehrer, racism as means of national liberation, the deification of state... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Martin Doblmeier DVD Release Date: Released the 20 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Despite its modest budget, this PBS docudrama on the life and significance of Martin Luther manages to be accessible, engaging, and informative. It combines a talking-heads approach--the testimony of six Luther scholars--with a flashback skeletal narrative--Martin Luther, played by Timothy West, reflecting on his life while on his "last journey."
Each of the scholars is more animated and communicative than is frequently the case in such documentaries, and their language, along with that of Liam Neeson's 3rd person narrator, is consistently direct and straightforward. As Luther, West may be the weak addition to the mix. His arch eyebrows, along with his curiously winking glances at the camera, make it difficult to tell whether he's sad, glad, pensive, apprehensive, or... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Cassian Harrison DVD Release Date: Released the 08 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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