Luther
By Ellen Fox
Special to the Chicago Tribune
Sunday, September 28, 2003
2-1/2 stars (out of 4)
Earnest and educational but rather PBS-ish, this biopic
about the life of Martin Luther will satisfy medieval
genre fans, BBC junkies, Sunday-school teachers and
students cramming for their European history tests.
It'll probably even satisfy Catholics because, despite
its important subject (the 16th-century German monk
whose clash with the church kicked off, among other
things, Protestantism), it still has a constrained,
small-screen feel to it, as if it doesn't want to risk
being too detailed or divisive. It's happy to be a
medieval underdog story, only to tell us afterwards
that Luther changed the world.
Joseph Fiennes plays Luther, a tormented, mouse-like
monk who believes there must be a merciful God, rather
than the damning, fearsome deity from whom everyone
spent the Middle Ages cowering. Disheartened by the
brash commercialism of relic sites and indulgence
peddlers, Luther foments reform in Germany and is
targeted by Rome as a heretic.
The film short-hands a lot of stuff, but it's gripping
for a while - partly for the Old World settings and
costumes, partly because it's a true story, partly
because it shares the same trajectory as a Robin
Williams-versus-the-authorities plot. The only
difference is that it doesn't end with the triumphant
courtroom scene (at Worms) and the girlfriend jumping
into his arms (she comes later, as a willful former
nun, played by Claire Cox).
Perhaps it should have ended at Worms, because once the
film dutifully proceeds to document Luther's subsequent
life in hiding, it loses what fist-in-the-air oomph it
had. Wholesome Lutheran activities such as translating
the Bible into German and settling down with a wife are
simply not as rousing as earlier scenes depicting
fire-and-brimstone sermons, ornate religious settings
and disfigured peasants clamoring towards pilgrimage
sites.
The Vatican, though portrayed as just a bloodless
corporation, actually doesn't fare too badly.
Televangelists make an easier target - in the guise of
an indulgence peddler Johann Tetzel (Alfred Molina),
who promises that "learned monks are standing by." We
are also reminded to avoid the other extreme; after
surveying how some early Protestants take the
humanistic implications of his ideas to a
communist-style conclusion and try to dispense with
churches altogether, Luther mourns, "I wanted reform,
not revolt."
Pick at this and there seems a subversive thread
running throughout the movie: from the casting of
Fiennes, who, in past films of a similar era, played
more of a romantic bodice-ripper; to the nudgings of
his mentor Johann von Staupitz (Bruno Ganz); to Peter
Ustinov's deceptively codger-ish Prince Frederick the
Wise, who gives Luther and, in turn, his ideas a haven;
to the history-making moment when Luther nails his 95
Theses to a church door.
In general, "Luther" chooses to be about stuff we can
all appreciate: how a man trusted his conscience, spoke
out against people getting ripped off, and how his act
of dissent was sheltered first by law, then by allies.
But aside from a couple of unintelligible conversations
with himself, there's barely any God here. The film
would rather just be inclusive. Luther might have
wanted it that way, but as moviegoers, it's hard not to
want more.
"Luther"
Directed by Eric Till; written by Camille Thomasson,
Bart Gavigan; photographed by Robert Fraisse; edited by
Clive Barrett; production designed by Rolf Zehetbauer;
costume designed by Ulla Gothe; music by Richard
Harvey; produced by Brigitte Rochow, Christian P. Stehr,
Alexander Thies. An RS Entertainment release; opens
Friday, Sept. 26. Running time: 1:50. MPAA Rating:
PG-13 (disturbing images of violence).
Martin Luther - Joseph Fiennes
Father Johann von Staupitz - Bruno Ganz
Prince Frederick the Wise - Peter Ustinov
Johann Tetzel - Alfred Molina
Girolamo Aleandro - Jonathan Firth
Katerina von Borg - Claire Cox