Review – Luther

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans presents an exceptionally one-sided account of the great reformer’s life. Obviously it’s understandable that they’d want to praise the founder of their church and one of the key figures in early Protestantism. Further, this is an easy-to-watch account of his life, hitting the important points and keeping things both interesting and clean enough for the church crowd. Joseph Fiennes does a good job in the title role, helping the character come across as both important and human at the same time. However, the uncritical nature of the narrative at times borders on downright inaccurate. For example, the success of Luther’s rebellion against the Catholic Church is portrayed in almost exclusively theological terms, with little or no attention paid to the politics behind the resistance of German princes to Papal authority. Mildly amusing