Luther Movie Reviews

Even though I haven't posted in days, my hits are way up because of all the searches I'm getting about the new Martin Luther movie.

Here are some positive reviews:

• Charles Colson - A Christian Movie You Can Take Your Non-Christian Friends To (Via Relapsed Catholic.)


• Christianity Today - A Reformer's Agony (Also via Relapsed Catholic.)


• World Magazine - Luther stands
(Registration required.)

And some negative reviews:

• A review from Decent Films. (Via Mark Shea.)


• A short review by Barbara Nicolosi at Church of the Masses.

Predictably, Catholics hate this movie and Protestants like it. I haven't seen it -- it isn't playing here yet. I may end up waiting for it to come out on video.

One of the main criticisms of this movie is that Luther is portrayed too heroically, and that the bad parts of his character are ignored. For example, Luther was anti-Semitic, especially in his dotage. Yet, Luther was not the only one of his time who was anti-Semitic. Much of Christendom, including the leadership of the Catholic Church in Luther's time, was anti-Semitic. So, I think there is enough guilt to go around, in that regard.

Also, the movie has been criticized for being anti-Catholic. Well, I'll have to see the movie myself to determine if that's the case. When I saw Elizabeth a few years ago, I thought it was very anti-Catholic. If Luther is anything like that movie, then I'll have to agree. However, I don't think it is anti-Catholic to acknowledge that Luther had a point and that there was corruption in the Catholic Church of his time.

And for anyone who got here searching for Luther info, here are some previous posts:

• Luther Trailer


• More on Luther

Update (10/7/03): Eric Seymour, who is helping to fill in for Joshua Claybourn this week, saw Luther and liked it. There's quite a discussion going on in the comments of his post.