Moot Thoughts & Musings

The other night, we finally got around to watching the Luther movie that came out last year starring Joseph Fiennes. Our final verdict of it was that we liked it. Maybe we had low expectations.

Some qualifications: Of course its being a movie and all, the theological aspects are going to be a bit watered down in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator (I fall into the category of "highest common denominator"). I was expecting the worst, and must say in some parts I was pleasantly surprised. In other parts, it was as I expected. No mention of the word "justification", wh. was somewhat important, but a high reverence for Scriptures was evident. Also, the whole preaching thing was kind of weird. They had him out of the pulpit and wandering all over the cathedral among the congregation. I know that was all nice and egalitarian of the movie makers, but Luther did have a high understanding of a worship service. There were a few other minor thing that just didn't jive.

Things I did like: Peter Ustinov as Frederick of Saxony! Fab. I'll always smile when I read that section of history and think of Peter Ustinov. Also, there was a good balance between the political effects and the theological concerns that Luther sparked. We liked the whole historical picture that was incorporated. (More along the lines of Oberman's biography, which I prefer, than Bainton's.) And Chris and I both thought the Diet of Worms scene was a vast improvement over the Jimmy Stewart-esque blackandwhite version shown countless Oct 31's of our childhood. I think we tend to think of significant events (e.g. "St. Anne I'll become a monk", nailing 95 Theses, burning the papal bull, Here I stand, etc.) as these HUGE events that should be done with an epic soundtrack in slow motion and lots of pathos, when he probably just did them as a course of his day or in a normal tone of voice--the movie did a good job of portraying a more realistic scenario.
His infamous struggles with the devil were well-done, though no ink-pot slinging. And his encounter with Rome as a young monk was really good, too. It really gave a good impression about what abuses were going on that sparked Luther's action. Yea, so some parts were sentimental, but it wasn't too over the top. We liked how they ended it: with the Peace of Augsburg. It was a good, satisfying ending.

So, anyway, when it comes our time to tell the Luther story to our kids, this will be a good movie to bring out.