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Reviews
Martin Luther (1953)
Film Review
Being a Muslim and having a superficial knowledge of Christianity, it was very interesting to read and watch materials about Christianity. One of the curious events in the history of Christianity was the Protestant Reformation. After learning about Protestant Reformation and Martin Luther, the film "Martin Luther" was quite intriguing. The movie describes the state of religion in Europe in the early 16th century. The life of Martin Luther who was against the church practices such as selling indulgences was described starting from the moment when he leaves the university and becomes a monk. His struggles against the church and religious practices of those times were demonstrated in great detail. So, the review will discuss the change of true understanding of Christianity due to man-made mistakes and the role of Martin Luther who acted as the promoter of true religion. For Luther, the true religion was living by faith and loving God with all your heart, not buying indulgences.
The film starts with a description of the people of the early 16th century. People believed that the world was filled with demons and evil spirits, and churches took advantage of this. All the people obeyed the church to protect themselves from eternal damnation. Martin Luther first appears as a student who is going to abandon studies. It is said that Luther was the best law student and here is the interesting point. In lecture materials and other internet sources, it is said that Martin Luther was caught in the lightning storm and he promised his soul to God if he would survive. Then, Luther survived and became a monk. However, in the movie Luther says that he wasn't made for law studies and in pursuit of something, mysteriously became a monk.
When he became a monk we see that there is a problem with his soul and at this point, the film criticizes the church of that time. It is said that "The church forgot the mercies of god instead it emphasized God's implacable judgments. Jesus Christ was presented as a relentless avenger and man himself so hopelessly engulfed in sin that he must live in perpetual dread of a furious god " and this is a reason why people believed that evil spirits are everywhere. This situation bothered Martin. The problem with his soul was faith in God. As he said, he cannot love God who always condemns him. I assume this was the first idea of Luther towards the Protestant movement. The reason for this assumption is the work of John Calvin (born in 1509) named "Instruction in faith" where he says that the true religion is the one where you do not fear God rather you will God with all your heart. In my view, the ideas of Calvin were highly influenced by Martin Luther.
To achieve peace in Christ Luther was sent to Rome. However, the trip to Rome aggravated Martin's faith in the church. The film demonstrates how Martin is disappointed with the church's architecture. He saw the Church's wealth and corruption and began to question the church more. When he arrived from Rome Luther started to question the Latin Scripture provided by the church saying that Latin scripture did not illustrate God's righteousness. For this idea, Martin heard condemnation from the Prior that the Latin scripture is good for everyone.
Another point when the movie shows Martin's criticism towards the church is when the vicar demonstrates the relics. In the film, the vicar shows relics for everybody in church and says that " if a pilgrim were to venerate every single relic in our church, he would be forgiven of his time in purgatory, 1,902,202 years, plus 270 days." The film conveys Martin's emotions by showing his face on the full screen. We see that he was upset about this religious practice of the church and left the hall. And here it comes the major point. Martin meets Vicar in his room and states that men should only live by faith and that one doesn't need any relics, symbols, or paying for sins, but only Jesus Christ. Now, we see the clear position of Martin Luther, "just should live by faith alone" and write the word "Sola" in the Bible.
The next moment which influenced Luther negatively towards the church was selling indulgences. A friar named John Tetzel came to Luther's city and sold indulgences. An indulgence was a donation to the church with a paper where popes promised to write about reducing a sinner's time in purgatory. The film shows that Luther was angry with this practice of church so that in response he wrote his 95 theses against indulgences and nailed it on the door of a church. Next, the film shows how the theses of Luther were reprinted and distributed all over Germany. But there was no information about Gutenberg Printing Press which is thought of as the most important factor that helps to spread 95 theses. However, I enjoyed a moment when people were holding a picture which was describing the whole situation in Europe and people made analogies of Luther and Jan Huss who was the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Bohemia and burned for heresy. People are looking for Luther as a German leader and they want to prevent again what happened to Huss. Here, the film demonstrates the support gained by Luther.
The next important stage is the 1521 Diet of Worms and Luther's "Here I Stand" speech. For the 1953 film cinematography is brilliant and Nial McGinniss'(who played Luther) performance was fantastic. At the moment, when he said that the Scripture is above popes, church and that men should live by faith, also his last words "Here I stand. I can do no other. God helps me. Amen." was shown gracefully in the film. The film ends with the diet in 153 when Luther's fellow reformers stand in front of the Emperor and defend the position of Martin Luther and also Martin who offers a prayer to God in the background of people singing a hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God".
To conclude, the film describes the state of Christianity in the early 16th century and Martin Luther as the leader of the Protestant Movement. I recommend first to research about Protestant Reformation and then watch the film even though it is quite old.