Swiss American Historical Society Review
Keywords
film review, Martin Luther, German produced films, historical accuracy in film
Abstract
After the success of the film BONHOEFFER: AGENT OF GRACE, with over 13 million viewers on U.S. Public Television,63 the same German-American production partners (NFPteleart Berlin and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans) took up a much larger project in 1999: an epic movie about the historic Martin Luther. The goal was to portray Luther in such a way that he would appeal to the young generations of the 21 st century, while making them understand why the man showed up on countless top ten lists of millennial figures. This essentially meant taking Luther off his pedestal to tell the real-life story of a flesh and blood hero.
According to the introductory statement by Edmund J. Campion in a recent review of the resulting film, LUTHER, the final product "pleased neither Protestants nor Catholics." If this assessment is true-and the validity of that assertion is open to debate-it would mean, by extension, that the production team failed in its goal to tell Luther's story in a vehicle that would reach anyone.
Recommended Citation
Stehr, Christian P.
(2005)
"Response to Edmund Campion's Film Review of Luther,"
Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 41:
No.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol41/iss1/4