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Reviews
Martin Luther (1953)
Issues about Indulgences
"Martin Luther" film discusses some of the most fascinating topics that were risen in the beginning of 16th century in Europe. These topics are related with the forgiveness of sins: indulgences versus free forgiveness and it is about searching for true faith: authority of Pope versus ideology of Martin Luther. Also, this movie tries to answer the questions: why Martin Luther started his movement, why people decided to support him, how Protestantism became popular in Europe, and what are the potential threats which protestants may face?
This review is divided into two parts. How well the problems with indulgences and the authority of Pope were represented in the movie will be discussed in the first part. Does it show the core things of Protestantism and how does it show the potential threats of this new movement?
There are two main scenes that show the problems with indulgences: first is where the priest is bargaining for price of indulgence and second where the priest forgives sins for everybody who pays coins. In the first scene, it is shown that to buy forgiveness of sins is as primitive as to buy some clothes in a shop when people are bargaining for the price. By this scene, it is well shown that the price of indulgence is variating, and the forgiveness of sins is transformed from the holiness to the business. In the second scene priest claims: "as soon as the money clinks in the chest, a soul flies up heavenly rest", thus giving forgiveness for everybody who pays money, showing that the only real prerequisite to be forgiven is to pay a coin to a priest. This scene corresponds to the historical event when Friar Tetzel - priest said: "when the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs." (Lecture: The Protestant Reformation (Part I)). These two scenes precisely show the core issues of the indulgences with which protestants are going to argue.
The second important issue that is shown is that the authority of Pope is standing higher than any other authority, even if the authority is Scripture Itself. Moreover, it is shown that the only right meaning of Scripture is always explained by Pope and teachers of Scripture. This problem is shown throughout the movie, for example when Martin Luther explains the word "righteousness", he is asked: where did he get that explanation? And it was explained to him, that it is not good to understand the Scripture by his own way. The peak of this issue is shown when Martin Luther is trying to debate and defend his ideas, that he was not even allowed to speak what he wants, but had to answer questions that were asked to accuse him in heresy. By these scenes and the atmosphere that is in the movie, it can be seen how high the authority of Rome and Pope was standing above others.
After Martin Luther came from the debates in Rome and was successfully saved from the persecutions, the meaning of his teachings started to be represented. There are several scenes in the movie which represents the core things in Protestantism that represents very well the focus on the faith rather than on the traditions, icons, statutes, etc. Here is one of the best examples: when Martin Luther was absent, one of the priests of the Protestant church convinced people to destroy all statues, icons in the city because they do not need them and the only thing that they need is faith. People violently destroyed the images of Saint people and statues. However, when Martin Luther came, he blamed the priest and accused him in his mistakes. Afterwards he was preaching to people that faith is not enough without love. So, there are two main topics that arise from this scene. First, is that protestants are repeating the mistakes, which they were previously trying to solve. They started to use their authority to diminish others and persecute those who may have different thoughts and ideas about what Scripture says. As it is known in the upcoming historical events, different denominations were persecuting one another, Calvinist were against Anglican Church and vice versa, Protestants against Catholics, etc. (Lecture: The Protestant Reformation (Part II)). From the other hand, this scene shows the foundation of the faith. That it is not only about believing to God, how some people misunderstood, and thus were several times repeating the mistakes of their predecessors, but about the love that is going in parallel with faith. Martin Luther claims in his speech that righteousness is not enough without love. It means that according to Protestantism we need to love people, or otherwise our faith is not full. Also, his speech may be explained in the next way: even though you are right, it does not propose that you should diminish the one who is wrong, but to love him/her and to help him/her. Here it can be referred to what Jesus told about two most important commands: to love God and to love your neighbor (Mark 12:29-31). So, it is well shown in these scenes of the movie that the core things of faith are related with love, but although it was so, it is shortly and not really explicitly shown that protestants were repeatedly raising the issues against which they were fighting themselves.
This movie in the best way showed the issues why protestant movement began by showing the issues with indulgences. Also, it showed how challenging it was for Martin Luther to promote his ideas, and to defend himself in front of the authorities of that time. Finally, the core ideas of Protestantism that were referring to the most important commandments in Bible about love were very well shown.
The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John (2003)
The Gospel of John: The Visual Bible
The movie The Gospel of John: The Visual Bible is based on story that is written in The Gospel of John. The way how this movie was made is very similar with how audio books are made. Audio books provide some additional atmosphere to the person who is listening it, as he/she can listen to the timbre of a voice of a reader and additional sound effects corresponding to the actions that are happening in a story. As in audio book, in this movie all words that are written in the book said either by the characters of the movie or by the off-screen voice (author words). However, comparing with the audio book, characters do not only read the words, but also, they play their roles and represent how certain actions were accomplished.
In this essay, I will discuss about reliability of scenario of this movie, how well Pharisees and the opposition between them and Jesus were shown, criticize some parts of stories in terms of cultural aspects and perceptions where Mary Magdalene participated, and discuss about how well crucifixion part was shown.
Reliability of Scenario
First, the way how this story is told is surprisingly interesting. It did not miss any story from the Gospel of John because it was actually going word by word, telling the whole story. This approach helped this movie to not go in any wrong directions in terms of scenario as every word was taken from the written story and also, nothing was missed, as almost every word, beside some that were represented by the actions of actors or environment around, were either read by off-screen voice or told by the characters. Reliability of scenario is very high.
Pharisees and Jesus
The biggest part of that movie showed very well the opposition between Pharisees and Jesus. It is known that at that time there was already established popular school of Pharisees who were very precisely following the law of Moses and fathers' traditions. During whole movie it can be seen the opposition of perception of the world and law that Pharisees had and the teaching of Jesus. The movie showed very well that Pharisees hated Jesus because He was healing on Sabbath. By the playing of actors, it can be understood that Pharisees did not understand the words of Jesus. For example, when He was saying Pharisees about destroying Temple and that He will rebuild It in three days, they did not understand Him. Bible also says that Pharisees could not understand His teaching and hated Him because He was diminishing fathers' traditions. The opposition between Pharisees and Jesus is shown very well.
Mary Magdalene
The truthfulness of how Mary Magdalene was shown in the movie is arguable because of the cultural aspects. The story about Mary Magdalene is well known in Bible, and in the Gospel of John it is even told that she was the first person who saw Jesus after His resurrection (John 20). However, in the movie she is almost always staying among the disciples, and the problem is not that she couldn't be in all situations, but that she was the only young woman among men. For example, she is the only woman among twelve disciples in Lord's supper, the night before crucifixion. In the western world it can be understood as normal, however, from the Asian cultural perspective it can be difficult for understanding why one young woman is sitting among young men. Moreover, in the story of The Gospel of John we cannot find that Mary Magdalene is always among disciples, so it is for sure the addition of the directors of the movie. Still, it does not mean that the importance of her or other women had to be reduced in the movie because in The Gospel of John their significance is shown (John 2, 19, 20). So, it was worth to show Mary Magdalene in those situations where she for sure was and to not add her where it can be arguable, this is to reduce the possibility of providing misleading information in terms of story and culture.
Crucifixion
The most important story of all Gospels is the part of crucifixion, and this movie showed this story quite well. The atmosphere of how He suffered, was crucified, a dialogue between Jesus and Pilate are shown very well and add the understanding of how everything was happening and was done. However, this story did not show the place of crucifixion understandable for the viewer. According to Book, place of crucifixion was not far from the city, and many people read the words that were written over Jesus (John 19), however, in the movie it is difficult to understand, whether that place is close to city, and could many people see the words that were written on the cross and the cross itself. But the importance of this part is well shown in the movie.
Conclusion
To conclude, this movie showed the story of Jesus, Pharisees, His Disciples and all others who were following and listening to Him in the way, that the one watching can increase his/her understanding about the story. However, there are some minuses, possibly, because of the cultural differences between western/modern world and the world that was 2000 years ago. If someone wants to know about the story of Jesus or even for the one who knows it already, this movie can be quite useful to increase his/her understanding about this story.