Product: Luther [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Germany ]
Rating: 4.0
Well done depiction of Luther, but lacking one essential
This was a really well done movie and at the end of the 2 hours, I wanted it to go on with the rest of Luther's life. The depictions of Luther's decision to enter the monkhood, angst about angry God, and his disturbing trip to Rome were really on target and the movie seemed to stick to history more or less, as much as I could tell. John Tetzel, the indulgence preacher, comes off as a thoughly dislikable fire-and-brimstone, give-me-your-money, rogue and all the essential characters are there - corrupt Popes, Prince Frederick, rioting peasants, the Holy Roman Emperor, and so forth. Plenty of time given to Luther arguing with the devil. I was waiting to see him throw his inkwell at the devil but it never happened. The depictions of his preaching are powerful.The only negative of the film was that it didn't include Luther's monumental discovery of Romans 1:17, "the righteous shall live by faith", the verse that brought him to conversion and changed him from fearful of God's wrath to confident of God's grace. In the movie, you see that some sort of conversion has happened but it is somewhat vague as to how that happened, other than that he has begun to trust in God's love to overcome his feelings of condemnation because of his own sin.